Silver Lining
by Demon Flame
Summary: The X-Men rescue mutants from Stryker's base and find Rogue to be one of them. Logan and Remy finally think Stryker's gone for good, but he leave's one last nasty surprise. Ignores the first three movies and First Class entirely.
1. Chapter 1

Logan shifted the girl in his arms as he ran through the maze of halls. She was the last of the mutants in Stryker's base and the most heavily guarded. While the twenty-something other mutants had been held in cages at one end of the base. This girl had been at the opposite end strapped to a hospital bed.

Something about this girl was special to Stryker. Looking at her now didn't tell him much. She was covered head to toe and had an odd streak of white in her auburn hair.

Running out the door and into the chilly Montana morning she stirred in his arms slightly. He could see the blackbird in sight and broke out into a sprint. Glancing behind him when he heard labored breathing he saw Cyclopes and Gambit, the demolition crew.

The girl in his arms stirred once more and this time when he looked down he saw drowsy bright green eyes looking up at him. She blinked a couple of times before her eyes were able to focus.

"If you grope me, Ah'll kill ya." Her voice was heavy with sleep and it was no wonder with the amount of sedatives they had been pumping into her. Despite the seriousness of the situation he found himself chuckle at her threat.

Finally boarding the blackbird he looked around for somewhere to lay the unconscious kid down. But they were packed to the max because they hadn't expected so many mutants to be here.

Scott and Gambit brushed by him to take over the controls while Jean and Ororo attended to the rescued mutants.

It was then he noticed one man had caught sight of the girl in his arms and had a look of terror on his face. Logan glanced back down at the unconscious girl, he saw nothing in her that warranted that kind of fear. Fear so strong that Gambit had even picked it up with his empathy.

"What?" He demanded of the mutant gruffly.

The mutant didn't even look up at him, just kept his eyes focused on her. "Don't touch her skin, man. It'll suck the life right out of you."

This statement caused several other to look up. Most looked confused while others looked frightened. "I saw her grab a hold of Creed once, she almost killed him." A girl with pale purple hair said.

Another spoke up, a middle-aged man with a thick black beard. "That was her? I remember the soldiers complaining because he was out of it for two weeks."

That was news to Logan and he looked back down at the unassuming kid. Creed was his half-brother and had a healing factor almost as fast as his own. For this little girl to nearly kill him was something else.

He'd have to be sure to tell Jean about it when they landed.

XxX

Rogue hugged her arms to her chest tighter as she quietly sat on the exam table. The sterile atmosphere felt too much like the labs and it made her skin crawl. She was just itching to run out of this place and put as much distance between her and the rest of the world as she possibly could.

It was as she was psyching herself to jump off the table and make a break for it that the door opened. She recognized the woman who walked in as the red-headed woman who had been on the jet. At least she was out of that black leather jumpsuit though the white lab coat was putting her on edge.

"Sorry for making you wait." The red-head apologized. "My name is Dr. Jean Grey and I'll be examining you today."

Rogue shifted uncomfortably on the exam table. She really did not want to be here. Dr. Grey seemed to sense her uneasiness and gave her a calm smile. "There's no need to worry, We won't hurt you here. I'm just making sure you are okay."

"Ah feel fine." Rogue said immediately in hopes of skipping this whole ordeal.

"I still need to start a medical file for you if you plan on staying here with us." Jean told her unconvinced.

Maybe she shouldn't have agreed to stay. Maybe she should have left with the other mutants. But they all had families to go back to and she didn't, that's why she was staying.

"Let's start with your name."

"Ah only go by Rogue." She said. Plenty of mutants did once their powers manifested.

"Age?"

Rogue bit her lip. When Creed had captured her she had been nineteen and she had no idea how long she had been there. Jean must have realized her plight and quickly supplied her with a date. She had only been there for four months. "Twenty."

"Birthdate?"

"April twenty-second, nineteen ninety-three."

"Alright, let's get your height ad weight know." Dr. Grey lead her over to the scale.

Rogue didn't even bother looking because she didn't care. She hadn't known her height and weight since she was thirteen. After that she lead Rogue back to the exam table and asked about her mutation.

Rogue explained it the way Stryker had explained it to her. She told her that she absorbed the life force of another when she made skin contact. With it she took a piece of their mind and copied it into her own. For a short time she was even able to copy their physical abilities and mutations if they had them. Stryker had even believed that if she held on long enough, she could absorb a mutant entirely and have percent access to their powers.

Rogue tried not to notice the troubled expression on Dr. Grey's face. People were always uncomfortable when they learned of her power. She didn't blame them, she was far worse than a telepathy as there was always the risk of dying with her. Though she hadn't ever killed anyone it was her worst fear.

"One last question." Dr. Grey said when she noticed Rogue getting antsy. "Did Stryker make any modifications to you? Any experiments?"

"Well after Ah absorbed Creed when he first brought me there, they kept me sedated so Ah don't remember much. But he did have me absorb mutants a couple of times and took some brain scans." She said. "And - "

Dr. Grey looked up at her. "And?" She gently prodded.

"Like Ah said, he kept me drugged most of the time so it might have been a dream, or someone's memory that Ah absorbed." She quickly said and looked down at her hands. "But Ah could have sworn Ah was on some sort of inclined table. Stryker was there by my head sayin' somethin' ta the doctor but Ah don't remember what."

When she looked back up Dr. Grey had gone very still was had an intense look on her face as she studied Rogue. "Rogue, I'm a telepath. With your permeation I'd like to take a look at this memory."

Rogue didn't even hesitate. If this memory was real then she needed to know what happened. With a firm nod she concentrated hard on the memory and tried her hardest to drown out the others who now shared her mind.

Dr. Grey laid the file she had been writing in and her pen down before walking over to stand in front of her. Lifting her hands so that they hovered about two inches from her temples, she closed her eyes.

Having someone enter your mind was an odd sensation. Kind of like sticking a finger in jello if you were the jello.

_Rogue opened her heavy eyes and immediately closed them from the bright light. It was another minute before she could force herself to look around at her surroundings. Her mind felt fuzzy as if she had been drugged and she couldn't seem to get it to process much of anything._

_It was then that she noticed a figure walk past her in scrubs and a mask carrying something._

_She closed her eyes to blink and when she opened them again the figure was no where in sight. Lifting her head she saw the person down by her feet. She thought it an odd position she was currently in. She was on some type of inclined table with her feet strapped into some sort of arm that was connected to the table._

_The figure pushed her knees apart and panic began to rise in her chest and clear the fog in her head. She gave a weak jerk and found herself to actually be strapped to the weird table._

_A sudden pain in the crook of her arm made her snap her head to the left, her mind swimming trying to catch up. There stood Stryker, barking some type of order at the man by her feet. The words didn't make sense to her but then this whole situation was puzzling._

Dr. Grey pulled back from Rogue's mind slightly breathless. She took a couple of steps back and regained her ground. "I think Stryker may have taken some of your eggs. The other mutants reported that he had done the same to them also."

Rogue nodded feeling sick. It was hardly fair that she couldn't have a normal life with a husband and children of her own. It would be a curl joke if Stryker took her eggs to create a life.

"Just to be sure though, why don't you go ahead and fill this up?" Dr. Grey said and passed over a small plastic cup with a lid. "And please, call me Jean." A friendly smile lit up her face.

Her lips curved into a smile for the first time in what felt like ages.

XxX

Remy sat down heavily at the counter in the kitchen. A cool beer from Logan's hidden stash in his hand. It had been a long day and this was just what he needed. He took a long swig of the beer before setting it back down.

"That better not be my beer." The gruff voice of Logan said as he walked into the kitchen.

Gambit looked down to the beer, contorting his face into one of pure innocence. "Wha'? This? O' course not."

Logan snorted and grabbed his own beer and took a drink. "So how's it feel being back?"

Remy rolled his eyes. "Ya make it sound like Ah was gone for a year." Another drink because he needed it after reliving that nightmare. "It was only a month."

A content silence followed for a couple of minutes as they both continued to drink Logan's beer.

"So what happened ta Stryker?" He asked.

Logan glanced at him out of the corner of his eyes. "Last I saw he was trapped under some rubble after you blew up his DNA Bank."

"Shame the whole facility collapsed. Don't suppose he made it out." He commented not sounding sorry at all.

Stryker had actually managed to capture him when he was a kid and his powers had newly manifested. The mad man had held onto him for two years before he escaped. Six months later he had been hustling poker during Mardi Gras when Logan showing up, claiming he was going to kill Stryker and everyone else on the God forsaken island.

unfortunately the marines had shown up just a few minutes too soon and Stryker had disappeared in the chaos. Luckily though, the adamantium bullet Stryker had shot Logan in the head with hadn't wiped his memory like they were supposed to. A few millimeters to the right and it would have done the trick but it seemed luck was on Logan's side that night in that regard.

So now five years later, both men had joined the X-Men and when rumors of Stryker kidnapping mutants again sprung up they both jumped at the chance to bring him down. Now after all these years he was finally dead. There was no doubt in his mind that Creed was running around somewhere, probably join up with the first person who offers him the chance at a killing spree.

Remy stood up and threw his empty bottle in the trash wishing he had something stronger to wash the day down with.

"Hey." Logan called as Remy started making his way out of the kitchen. He stopped and turned to face the feral. "You ever come across Rogue while you were there?"

Rogue? "Who?"

"The girl I carried out, the one that was being kept at the opposite end of the base." He clarified.

Remy's mind searched for any memory of the girl but came up blank. "Desole, bu' Ah never got a good look at her."

And with that he turned around and left. There was a bed on the second floor calling his name.

A/N

I am still working on other things but I just couldn't get this out of my head. Anyway let me know what y'all think.


	2. Chapter 2

"Huh?"

It was the only coherent thing she could form. She must have misheard because there was no possible way she had heard correctly.

Jean's frown deepened "I said you're pregnant."

Her mind was still blank as it desperately tried to process the information. "But Ah've never had sex." She argued. She couldn't be pregnant, she just couldn't.

"Do you know what invetro fertilization is?" Jean was giving her a sympathetic look that made her want to cry. When Rogue didn't answer either way she continued. "It's when your eggs are taken out of you and mixed with sperm before put back into your uterus."

Rogue shook her head no. That didn't happen, it couldn't. "But my mutation." If she could take down an adult with just one touch then there was no way a fetus could survive inside of her for nine months.

"Your mutation is in your skin which is a whole different organ from your uterus." Jean explained. "The fetus won't be in any danger. And since it share's DNA with you it might even have a resistance to your mutation."

Finally the tears came as what Jean was saying hit home. They streamed down her face like an open tap and she buried her face in her hands to hide her shame. It wasn't exactly the same as rape but the result was the same. She had been violated in the worst way and now she had to deal with whatever was growing inside of her.

"What if it's a monster?" She asked between sobs.

Jean pulled her into a hug and rubbed her back. "We have Stryker's files." She soothed. "We'll find out what he did to it, I promise."

Rogue shook her head as a fresh wave of tears spilled from her clenched eyes. "Ah can't do this." Who could?

Jean pulled back from her and forced Rogue to look at her. Her face the picture of determination. "I will get you through this Rogue, it will be alright, I promise you."

Rogue sniffed but nodded her head just the same. She didn't know that Jean had that same sick feeling in her stomach. Or that she was just as worried for her as she was for herself. The unknown loomed over and engulfed them in fear.

XxX

It took Jean forty minutes to calm Rogue down enough so that she could leave her for a couple of minutes. Closing the door of the exam room behind her she leaned against the wall, the strong façade falling as she trembled.

"Jean?" She looked up to see Scott walk through the doors and over to her. The distress must have shown on her face because he picked up the pace until he stood in front of her. "Are you okay?" Concern laced in his voice, he put two comforting hands on her shoulders and she leaned into him.

She nodded her head. "Its Rogue." She said. "Stryker did something awful to her." Her voice was barely a whisper as she tried to hold back the tears. She didn't want Rogue to hear the worry in her voice. She needed to stay strong for her, to prove that everything would be alright even if she didn't believe it herself yet.

"What happened?"

Jean shook her head indicating that it was a part of patient/doctor confidentiality. "Is Forge still working on decrypting the files Gambit got from Stryker?" She asked instead.

"Yeah." He answered, not pursuing any more information about Rogue. It was not Jean's place to share whether she could or not and Scott understood that. "He says he thinks it might take up to two weeks before his decryption algorithm will start showing results."

"Please go tell him we need the information as soon as possible."

Scott nodded. "Will you be coming up to bed soon?"

"Yes, just as soon as I get Rogue settled." Scott leaned forward and planted a kiss on her forehead before leaving her alone again.

She had promised Rogue that she would personally ensure that everything turned out alright. She couldn't let her down, not now when she would be at her most vulnerable. Jean would make sure that she would be there for Rogue and she had faith in her fellow X-Men that they would step up.

Placing Rogue in the room across from hers would be best. There was no telling what sort of symptoms a mutant had during pregnancy. She could have the normal everyday symptoms or she might accidentally set the curtains on fire when the baby kicked. If it even was a baby, Jean shuddered at the thought of it being anything else, she would need to be close by as her doctor and friend.

Tomorrow she would take Rogue down to the hospital to get an ultrasound and determine exactly where she was in her pregnancy. And hopefully put to rest any fears the two of them had about the fetus being a monster.

But right now she needed to get Rogue something to wear so she could change out of the dreadful scrubs all the mutants had been made to wear. Maybe she would take Rogue shopping if she was up to it. The last thing Rogue needed was to fall into a depression, it would make the pregnancy and impending motherhood that much harder.

XxX

Rogue tugged at the gloves Jean had leant her, they were a bit big but they did the job of keeping her skin covered. Jean had promised to take her shopping for clothes after they left the hospital. She didn't particularly feel like going shopping but knew she needed to, she couldn't very well go around in sweatpants and hoodies.

"Rogue." Jean said from beside her in the car. "Have you thought about telling anyone else?"

She hugged her arms around herself tightly. So far the only people she had really talked to was Logan, Jean and the Professor. Jean already knew and she figured the Professor would know about it anyway being a telepath and all. She didn't know Logan well enough to predict his action but she imagined he might get mad and break something, it seemed like his kind of thing. She got the impression that he and Stryker had had run ins before.

"Ah don't really wanna talk about it ta anyone." She confessed. "But you can tell anyone who needs ta know. Not much point in keepin' it a secret when it'll be obvious after a while anyway."

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Jean give her a look that she didn't care to figure out. People would think what they wanted, she didn't need their friendship and she certainly didn't need their pity.

The rest of the ride to the hospital was spent in a slightly tense silence. Once they arrived Jean navigated her through the halls until they reached an exam room in a hallway labeled radiology.

Jean handed her a folded hospital gown and told her to undress before she pulled closed the curtain to give her privacy.

Rogue looked down at the thin scrap of material. She would be incredibly exposed in this, but Jean knew of her mutation and would wear gloves to protect herself.

"I'll have to do a pelvic exam too so take off your underwear." Jean called through the curtain.

This whole thing seemed surreal like some awful dream that she couldn't wake up from. She felt trapped and it made her sick to her stomach.

Once the gown was on she took a seat on the table and told Jean she was ready. Jean opened the curtain and Rogue saw that she had put on a pair of purple surgical gloves. Jean sat down on a rolling stool in front of her and pulled out a pair of stirrups from the table. Presumably she was meant to put her feet in them.

Could this get any worse?

Jean pulled out the vaseline and squeezed a huge glob on to two of her fingers. "I'll need you to lay back and scoot down as far as you can."

Rogue did as instructed and tried to keep her mind blank. She didn't want to think of what was happening down there on Jean's end of things.

"Alright, there's your cervix." She said and Rogue desperately tried to ignore the pressure from Jean's fingers.

Withdrawing her fingers after a moment, Rogue made to sit up but Jean told her to stay there. She watched as she disposed of her gloves and but on a new pair. She rolled some type of machine that had been sitting in the corner of the room and hooked it up to the large flat screen on the wall.

She pulled out a condom and rolled it on to a dildo looking thing. "An' what exactly do ya plan on doin' with that?" The was most certainly not an edge of panic in her voice.

Jean looked up at her with a grin. "During early stages of pregnancy we can't see the fetus on the ultrasound by normal means so we have to use a vaginal probe." She explained.

Yeah sure, she had no more humility anyway.

Laying back down she focused her attention on the ceiling where there was a picture of a shirtless Liam Hemsworth. Nice.

"Oh." It was cold and highly uncomfortable.

Turning her attention from Liam she looked over to the screen. Everything was black and white. Jean moved the probe around in what she was hoping was an attempt to find the thing in her. She hoped it wasn't a monster, she didn't know what she would do if it was.

"There we go." She said as a greyish blob came into focus. "That's your placenta."

Using the mouse she maximized the image until it took up almost half the screen. "And there's the baby." The mouse pointed to what looked like a large pinto bean. She would have thought it would look a little more like an animal or human not a bean.

Jean started taking measurements of it as Rogue continued to study it. Was it supposed to look like that? It was hard to tell if it might be a growing Frankenstein or not.

"You are at ten weeks. Which makes your due date September fifteenth." Jean said jotting it down in the file she had laid out next to her. She set her pen down and fiddled with the buttons on the ultrasound machine.

A loud, rapid thumping filled the room. "What is that?" She asked, squinting her eyes at the bean baby.

"That would be the baby's heartbeat." She said.

"Is it supposed to be that fast?" That couldn't be normal.

"Yes it's perfectly normal." Jean quickly assured her. "The baby is perfectly normal." She clarified though it did nothing to ease her worry.

How Jean could tell, she didn't know. All she saw was a bean that might grow into Frankenstein.

Jean pulled out the probe and wiped it down, politely looking away so Rogue could close her legs and sit up. She passed her some paper towels before pulling the curtain closed once more and telling her to get dressed.

Back in the car, on the way to the mall and feeling just a little bit violated from being probed, Rogue sat. Jean had tried to make small talk about things that were happening at the mansion but Rogue was only half paying attention.

Her mind was on the baby bean in her belly. When she had heard the heartbeat an odd feeling had sprung up in her chest. A feeling she had never had before and one she couldn't identify. If she had to call it something she might use the word attachment.

Jean had said it was a normal baby she was carrying so maybe Stryker hadn't done anything weird to it. For all she knew he may have wanted to breed an army out of mutants and train them from birth. She could have been a test run for all she knew. Though why he would want to use her was unclear.

"Rogue?"

She pulled herself away from her thoughts to look over at Jean. "Ah'm sorry what did ya say?"

"I said, that when we get back I would introduce you to the other X-Men." Jean said. "And then if you're feeling up to it we can talk to the Professor about your condition."

"Yeah, sure." She said miserably. Rogue had never once been accused of being a social butterfly. Her loner status had only increased over the years since her mutation had manifested.

Jean moved to place her hand on Rogue's shoulder. "It'll be alright Rogue, I'm here for you."

Rogue didn't look over to meet her eyes. "You don't even know me, why would you want ta help me?"

Jean gave her a brilliant smile that lit up her whole face. "You need a friend Rogue and I'd like to be your friend. The X-Men are like a family, we take care of each other."

Rogue honestly didn't know what to say to that. But then she gave Jean a sad little smile. "Ah kinda wished Ah had found my way ta y'all when Ah first got my powers." If she had, then none of this would have ever happened.

A/N

Okay I hope y'all enjoyed. I tried to portray the awkwardness that is a pelvic exam without going into too much detail here. I hope you enjoyed and please leave a review. On a side note, several of you have asked about stories I've posted in the past that I've taken down. I put them up for adoption a year ago and one person adopted them all but hasn't down anything with them at all. Would it be poor form to repost them and update them since she/he has apparently no plan on doing it? The author is Aqua Amethyst Angel.


	3. Chapter 3

_Remy glared out of the bars of his cell as the soldiers dragged another mutant off to be experimented on. Stryker caught sight of his glowing demon eyes in the dark and smirked. _

_"Don't worry Mutant 568-E, you're next." He said with a chuckle. He never addressed any of his experiments by their names or mutant monikers._

_Gambit narrowed his eyes. "Ah thought Ah was Mutant 392-D?" He mocked._

_Stryker gave him a sinister smile that made his blood turn icy. "All in good time."_

The shrill sound of ringing woke Gambit up. Sitting up he snatched his phone off the nightstand and glanced at the alarm clock that told him it was only noon. Someone better be dying as he had planned to sleep until at least two.

"Gambit." He answered.

"Remy!" The breathless voice of his brother came over the phone. "Mercy had the baby! I'm a pere!"

Okay that was a pretty good reason. "Congratulations fere." He said and heard the cry of his newborn nephew in the back ground.

"Ya better get ya no good ass down here an' visit." Henri said. "Ah already booked ya a ticket, the plane leaves in an hour."

Remy snorted. "Ah hear ya, Ah'm gettin' ready ta leave now."

Bidding adieu to his brother he hung up the phone and rolled out of bed. He didn't need to bother packing a bag as he had clothes both here and there. He did need to put some clothes on, however. Logan got testy when he walked around in nothing but his boxers. He pretended it was to keep the innocence of the girls in the mansion, but Remy knew it was because he was simply jealous.

He had even tried to help the Canadian out and get him a Jazzercise DVD for Christmas. Though looking back on it maybe he should have given it to him in private because Logan chucked the DVD across the room at his head in embarrassment.

Throwing on jeans a long-sleeved shirt and his ever-present trench coat he left his room.

"You going somewhere Cajun?"

Remy turned and flashed a smile at Logan. "Ah'm an uncle, goin' down the bayou ta see ma nephew."

Logan chuckled and gave him a heavy pat on the back as he came to walk beside him. "Congratulations Gambit." He said. "Any idea when you'll be back?"

"'Bout a week, maybe two." He said and the slipped him a sly grin. "Ya gonna miss lil' ol' me?"

Logan snorted but said no more as they walked down the stairs. What greeted them at the bottom of the stairs was a hyper Kitty. "Hey Remy!" She called out louder than needed, a light blush donning her cheeks.

"Petite."

She giggled and turned to Logan. "Have you seen Jean?"

If anyone knew where she was it was Logan. "Said something about taking Rogue shopping this morning." He grunted. "Left around seven."

Kitty's frown deepened. "But the mall doesn't open till nine." Count on Kitty to know when the mall opened. "Besides, Storm wanted me to show Rogue around the mansion after lunch."

"Ah wouldn' worry about it." Remy said with a smile. "Ah'm sure they'll be back soon."

"KITTY!" Came the shrill voice of Jubilee from the top of the staircase opposite to them. "I found her! You should see her, her boobs are huge!"

Kitty tore across the entrance hall, running straight through two startled boys, to Jubilee. "Like, keep your voice down. I'm sure she doesn't want everyone to know her cup size."

Remy smiled and made to follow them to go see the big breasted Rogue when he felt Logan clamp a hand on his shoulder. He looked over his shoulder to see Logan scowling. "Don't you have somewhere to be?"

He gave a long glance down the hallway Jubilee and Kitty disappeared in before sighing in defeat. He'd never hear the end of it if he missed his flight just so he could ogle a pair of breasts. With a grave nod and a wave over his shoulder he switched directions and headed off to see his crazy brother, his cranky sister-in-law and his nephew who would probably be asleep the whole time.

XxX

Rogue had never been so embarrassed in her entire life, not even when Jean inserted the vaginal probe in her only hours before. And why was she so damn embarrassed you might wonder? Well there were two girls about her age with their attention focused solely on her chest.

She threw a pleading look to Jean who was trying very hard not to laugh but doing nothing to help her out.

"They're real right?" The one in a bright yellow tee asked. Rogue swatted her hand away when she reached out to poke her left breast.

"Of course they are!" She snapped and took a step back, crossing her arms over her chest.

The other girl pouted and looked down at her own, smaller, chest. "It's just not fair." She said. "Its like you got all the boobs."

Her face must have been beet red and she was thinking about snarling at them. But then Jean finally stepped in.

"Jubilee." She said to the walking highlighter. "Kitty," The other girl looked up at her. "Is that how you great all women? By comparing your breast size to theirs?"

Both girls instantly looked sheepish and offered her small apologetic smiles. "Sorry." They chorused together.

Maybe staying here wasn't such a great idea after all. "Come on we'll show you around." Kitty said grabbing one wrist and tugging her towards the stairs.

"Try not to wear her out." She told the girls before turning to Rogue. "I'll be meeting with the senior X-Men to inform them of what we discussed earlier." And with that she walked down the hall and out of sight.

Rogue turned to both girls who were looking at her curiously. They looked like the gossiping types. Jean had said they were like family here but she just couldn't bring herself to discuss It with anyone but Jean. She still wasn't comfortable admitting it to herself yet.

"So how about that tour?" It was a lame attempt at changing the subject but they both dropped it and dragged her away.

They made it as far as the entrance hall before they hit a snafu. Kitty claimed that starting the tour from the school side of the mansion was the best way to go. Jubilee scoffed at her and firmly stated that they should start down in the sub-levels first and make their way up.

Rogue's stomach growled. "How about we start in the kitchen." She suggested.

Both girls looked to her and shrugged, either they were twins who looked nothing alike or they spent a lot of time with each other. Probably arguing.

"So I can shoot firework's out of my fingertips and Kitty can walk through walls, what can you do?" Jubilee asked as the three walked into the kitchen.

"Well, when Ah make skin contact with someone else Ah absorb their memories an' physical abilities. If their mutants Ah can use their powers for a short time." She explained. The other mutants who had been rescued with her had been terrified of her. She desperately hoped they wouldn't fear her too.

"So if you were on our team in the danger room session we could totally kick the guy's asses!" Jubilee exclaimed a look of premature triumph on her face.

Kitty giggled as she pulled out plates for the three of them. "It'll be awesome, can you imagine the look on Bobby's face?"

Rogue took a seat at the counter. "What's the danger room?"

Jubilee turned from the fridge, all the fixin's to make sandwich's in her arms. "See? I told you we should have started in the sub-levels." She threw a look at Kitty who stuck her tongue out.

"Its where we go to train with our powers." Kitty said. "It has these amazing holographic so its like your fighting real people."

They were so excited that Rogue just didn't have the heart to tell them that she probably wouldn't be joining them in their danger room. She seriously doubted Jean would let her do it, no matter how cool it sounded.

The girls discussed various battle strategies that nearly always ended with Kitty or Jubilee delivering the finishing blow. Rogue just smiled at them and continued to eat her sandwich. This all felt so normal that it made her ache to think she could have been here the whole time instead of hitchhiking across the continent. If she had found her way here then she would never have ended up with Stryker and she wouldn't be pregnant.

"What's going on here?" Rogue turned to see a blonde boy about her age walk into the kitchen.

He was kind of cute in that boy next door way with his perfect blond hair and bright blue eyes. He gave her a smile when he saw her.

"Nothing." Kitty said in a tone that implied the complete opposite.

The boy ignored them and walked around the counter to stand in front of Rogue. "Hi, I'm Bobby. You're one of the mutants that was rescued from that base in Montana right?"

Smooth boy scout, bring up Stryker and his weird mutant experiments. "Yeah." She said shortly.

He seemed to realize his blunder and opened his mouth, no doubt to apologize when he was interrupted.

"Rogue's going to be our secret weapon the next time we go against you and the guys in the danger room." Jubilee boasted, looking smug.

Bobby raised his eyebrows as though he were humoring them and Rogue had the sudden urge to wipe the smirk off of his face. She was not meant to be taken lightly even if he was just messing with them.

"Oh?" He asked. "And what can you do?"

Jubilee opened her mouth again but Kitty quickly clamped a hand over it. "You'll just have to find out the hard way." She said and stood up, walking over to the kitchen door and holding it open.

Rogue and Jubilee followed her lead and walked through the door. "Put those away for us will you?"

They all rounded a corner and burst into a fit of giggles. "Did you see his face?" Jubilee squealed, leaning against a wall.

They laughed for a couple more minutes before continuing on. The two told Rogue all about Bobby, the cocky Iceman and Piotr, the strong silent Colossus. And then they gushed about the devilishly handsome Gambit. Then there was the wild Wolverine and the stoic Cyclopes. Between their hottie ratings of each male, they did manage to tell Rogue about their powers.

The tour lasted all the way until supper time when Rogue finally broke off from them claiming she was tired. She actually was tired but the real reason she wanted to retire for the evening was because she was feeling nauseous. Jean had warned her that she might get morning sickness but she was hoping she would be one of the lucky few who didn't get the sucky symptoms.

That night, after her shower, Logan came to her room. Pulling on her gloves she answered the door. The look on his face and the way he kept glancing down to her stomach made it clear that he had been informed of her condition.

"Hey." She said trying to play his late night visit off like she didn't think anything was up. So far it was a failure.

"You okay kid?" He asked looking her up and down.

"Yeah." Her voice cracked. Oh yeah, she sounded real convincing.

He didn't look like he believed her for a second and scratched the back of his head. He muttered something that sounded a lot like 'fuck'. "Look kid, the X-Men, we're kinda like a family here. You need something, don't hesitate to ask."

And looking supremely awkward he stalked off down the hallway.

Rogue poked her head out to watch him until he turned a corner. It was nice to know all these people were here for her. But they were still strangers to her, she had no connections with them. And at the end of the day she still felt alone. Try as they might they couldn't even imagine what she was feeling.

She really wasn't even sure what she should feel. The majority of her felt hatred at Stryker for taking something so precious and twisting it into something so sinister. But a little tiny bit of her, that was born when she heard the thumping of its heart, wanted to feel the wonderment of the life inside of her. She hated that part of her and wanted it to die, it shouldn't exist at all.

But it was all so damn confusing that she just wanted to hit something. She needed something to take her fury out on. Briefly she considered sneaking off to the danger room, but Jubilee had said she needed a code to get in which she didn't have. She wouldn't even know how to turn the damn thing on anyway. The control room had looked like some sort of spaceship.

Walking over to the full length mirror on the closet door she took a good look at herself. Her hair was longer then it had ever been reaching down nearly to the middle of her back in wet curls. There were so many different little things about her from the girl who had kissed Cody under the old elm.

Lifting her night-shirt she turned to the side to get a look at her belly. It was still as flat as it usually was and it made her sick. The thing growing inside of her made her want to scream. Instead she cried, long and hard.

A/N

I hope you enjoyed please leave a review. Also, I sent a PM to the other author but have not heard back from them yet. I'll let y'all know what happens if they do respond.


	4. Chapter 4

Rogue couldn't believe that no one but the senior X-Men knew of her condition still after three weeks. She felt like it was printed in big red letters across her forehead. Maybe it was just her imagination but she felt beyond paranoid. Any day now she just knew that Kitty or Jubilee or both would bound up to her in the kitchen and shout for everyone to hear about the abomination in her stomach.

Jean would admonish her every time she thought about the baby as a monster. But really she couldn't help it. This thing inside of her was only there because Stryker had decided to try an experiment on her. She didn't even know if Stryker had used her eggs or not. Who even knew what he had done with the egg and sperm that he had implanted in her.

Forge had barely even made a scratch on the encrypted files and until Rogue knew every last detail of the thing inside of her she wouldn't rest easy. Just the thought of it inside of her made her stomach crawl. She couldn't even eat any more and the others had started noticing that.

Just the other day she had heard Kitty mention it to Ororo. Storm had thankfully brushed it off as quickly as she could but later had brought it up to her. She had nodded her head and promised to try to eat more with absolutely no intention of following through.

One week later Logan hadn't been as subtle and threatened to hook her up to a feeding tube if she didn't change her tune. After that she made sure to eat a plate full when he was around no matter how much she vomited it up after word. She wasn't bulimic or anorexic or anything like that, it was just she couldn't keep it down.

Jean told her it was normal to lose her appetite but was concerned that she seemed to stop eating anything but plain crackers. Rogue just couldn't stomach anything else and had begun to avoid the kitchen altogether by her third week at the mansion. In fact she was trying to avoid everyone, not that it actually worked. Both Kitty and Jubilee were persistent.

She was now three months pregnant and when she looked down at her stomach it was no longer flat. Rogue was hardly vain, it's just what it represented. Before long she wouldn't be able to hide the bump and then people would start asking questions. Uncomfortable, probing questions.

"Rogue?" She turned around to see Jean at the door with her coat over her arm. "Are you ready to go?"

Rogue grabbed the coat on her bed and shrugged it on before following Jean out the door. Today was her second exam and she was not looking forward to it. This time she absolutely refused to hear the heartbeat. That tiny piece of her was dangerous and she couldn't risk it growing in strength.

XxX

Remy glanced out of the window of the taxi as Jean's car passed him on the road leading to the mansion. Someone was in the car with her but it didn't look like Scott. Probably a new student.

The driver pulled up to the mansion, casting doubtful looks out of the window at the children playing. Granted, when you normally saw children at play they weren't shooting fireballs or blasts of plasma at each other.

He threw the driver a handful of bills and a look that made it clear that the hefty tip was for his silence on the matter. The cabby gave him a big smile that showed he was missing a tooth before he drove off.

When he turned around to walk in it was to see Logan leaning against the wall next to the door. He looked irritable, well more so than normal.

"Ya miss me?" He asked pulling a cigarette out and lighting it with the tip of his finger.

Logan snorted. "I thought you were only going to be gone a week Gumbo."

That had been the plan but it was hard to leave his family and especially his newborn nephew, Andre. The kid was just so cute and sweet that it made him want one of his own one day, well at least until he had started crying. That kid had a set of lungs on him.

The only response Logan got was a shrug.

Logan turned his head to watch the kids playing with a frown on his face. Remy noticed he was acting off and was about to question him on it when Logan spoke up. "You any good at that computer shit?"

Remy raised an eyebrow. "If ya mean, 'can Ah find my way around the internet ta online poker?'. Then, oui." It was true, Gambit had never been especially talented with computers. His cousin Lapin on the other hand was like a Stephen Hawking with them. "Why?"

"Forge can't seem to crack the code on those files you stole from Stryker."

Remy nodded. "Ah thought he said it would take a while before he saw any results on that. Wha's the rush?"

Logan shook his head. "You'll find out soon enough." Was the only answer he got.

And with that cryptic answer he charged the filter on his cigarette and tossed it over his shoulder before heading inside out of the cool March weather.

"Remy," Ororo said, walking out of an adjacent hall. "Welcome back. How were Henri and Mercy?"

"Exhausted." He smirked. "Andre has them runnin' around like chicken wit' their head's cut off."

She gave him a gentle smile. "I'm afraid we may be in the same situation soon."

Oh?

He gave Storm a once over. "Logan finally step up Stormy?"

Her cheeks colored at his insinuation. "Not me." She said and walked past him up the stairs to the teacher's hall.

Interested he bounded up after her, taking the stairs two and three at a time. "An' who's the lucky fille, Jean?" he asked with a smirk. "Ah didn't think Scooter had it in him."

"No, not Jean either. And I'm afraid she doesn't consider herself as lucky as she should." Storm said stopping in front of her room.

"Alright, first Logan an' now you. Wha's goin' on?" Logan had alluded to something important being on Stryker's files and now Ororo was saying someone around here was pregnant and wasn't too pleased about it.

"It isn't my place to tell." She said and Remy rolled his eyes.

He'd figure out who it is eventually, maybe someone new had come to the mansion while he was away and that's who was pregnant. Probably one of the kids had gotten knocked up, that sort of thing happened all the time in schools across the country. Perhaps it was time Scott revised the Sex Ed portion of his Health Class.

"So other than a secret pregnancy, anythin' new while Ah was gone?"

"No, though I did want to ask you if you could take over my History class for me tomorrow morning?" She stopped in front of her door.

"Sure thing." He said before walking down the hall to his own door. He wanted to get changed into his gear because the danger room was calling his name.

XxX

Rogue trudged behind Jean as she lead them back into the mansion. This time the thing no longer looked like a bean, it looked like a real baby. Jean had assured her that the sudden growth spurt was normal but it did nothing to settle Rogue's nerves about it.

Jean had printed out a picture for her of it and she had quickly stuffed it into her pocket not wanting to see it again. When she got back to her room she would stuff it in the back of her closet.

She parted with Jean in the entrance hall and walked up the stairs to her room. She had been so tired lately that naps in the afternoon had become apart of her daily habit. Turning the corner she did not expect to run into anyone let alone Kitty.

"Oh, hey Rogue." She said with a smile on her face. "What are you doing?"

Kitty and Jubilee both had toned it down a lot since their first meet and for that Rogue was grateful. She didn't think that she could deal with that kind of intensity all the time.

"Just gonna lay down for a while." She said.

Kitty nodded. "Me and Jubilee were thinking about doing a movie night tonight, just the three of us. You in?"

Rogue actually did like both girls no matter how different they were and did like hanging out with them. "Sure."

"Great! We are meeting in the TV room with the big red chair after dinner." She said before phasing through the floor.

"Alright then." She muttered before walking down the hall and into her room. It annoyed her a little bit when Kitty would just drop out like that, but if she had had the same mutation then she couldn't really say she wouldn't do it too.

Once inside her room she shrugged out of her coat and sat down on the bed. Pulling the ultrasound picture from her pocket.

It was only a black and white of the little thing. It was so small and curled up into a little ball that it pulled at something in her heart. What if it wasn't a monster? What if Stryker had used her egg to make it? If so then this feeling in her chest was normal. If so then this was her baby.

She traced the curve of the baby's spin with her finger. But what if it wasn't her baby? What if they found who the real parents where? Would she need to give it up to them? She was ashamed to admit there was a slight pain in her stomach at that thought. She shouldn't be thinking about raising a child at all.

Rogue was just barely taking care of herself, how could she hope to raise a kid even with everyone at the mansion helping. No, it would be best if this thing had someone who wanted it and knew what to do with it.

She opened the drawer to her nightstand and slid the picture in it face down. She should have never taken the picture from Jean.

A/N

I know this one is short but hope y'all liked it anyway so leave a review, they help fuel the creative process. On a side note, I still haven't heard from the author who adopted my stories, for those interested. If I don't hear back in another week or so I'll post my old stories again.


	5. Chapter 5

It was near one in the morning when Gambit came strolling out of the elevator. He had just spent the last few hours in the danger room pushing his body to the brink of exhaustion and now he was ready for a shower.

He stopped off in the kitchen to grab himself a bottle of water when the sight of a very feminine figure grabbed his attention.

Her back was to him giving Remy a lovely view of her pert little backside encased in denim perfection. She had a head full of long auburn hair and even in the dim light of the kitchen he could pick up the red strands. Naughty thoughts of bending her over the counter and taking her from behind drifted through his mind.

She turned around and gave a surprised squeak to see him standing in the door way. Her brilliant green eyes widen and a light blush lit up her alabaster skin. "Ah'm sorry, Ah didn' hear ya come in...?" Her words were dipped in though honey sweet southern drawl he had come to love as a kid and desperately missed up here.

A shock of white hair fell down one side of her face and she brushed a few strands away. It was either a fantastic dye job as there were no roots, or it was an outward sign of her mutation.

"Gambit, but you, may call me Remy." The blush deepened to a dark red that made him want to groan. "Forgive me Chere, Ah did not expect anyone ta be up this late." He said walking forward into the kitchen.

"Ah'm Rogue." She offered and looked down and away.

While her attention was else where he took the opportunity to get a good look at her up close. He dimly remembered something about Jubilee saying she had a large rack and she wasn't lying. Rogue was probably a large C, borderline D. Which was accentuated by her tiny waist and large hips that he wanted nothing more than to grip in his hands.

The things he could do to a body like hers would have him confessing to a priest for years to come.

"Ah was just makin' some more popcorn." She said and Remy saw the full bowl of popcorn by her on the counter.

"Movie night?" He asked as he leaned in to her.

She bit her lower wine colored lip and nodded. "Yeah, me, Kitty an' Jubilee." She said and looked up to lock her eyes with his. He gave her his most charming smile, the same one that had even Jean tripping over her own words.

"Well, Ah better get back." She said and snatched the bowl of popcorn up before disappearing out the door.

What just happened?

He turned to look at the empty doorway she had just swept through. There were very few people who could resist his charms because it was actually part of his mutant power, an extension of his empathy.

Quickly grabbing a bottle of water he left the kitchen and headed down the hall. The faint glow from one of the common rooms was all he needed to know where the girls were. Like a thief in the night he snuck up to the door and peered in. Jubilee was sprawled out on the over stuffed red chair and Kitty was laying on the couch with her feet hanging over the arm.

Rogue was sitting on the love seat with her back against the arm rest and the bowl of popcorn in her lap. She had folded her legs under her and was grinning at something one of the others had said.

A quick glance at the movie they were watching told him he couldn't get away with pretending to like the movie. He'd have to find some other way to snuggle up to the pretty girl with the two toned hair.

With a smirk that foretold of things to come, he left the girls to their movie night. He'd be sure to get some time in with Rogue tomorrow.

XxX

"I did it!"

Rogue looked up from the control panel in the Danger Room where she and Ororo sat. Kitty and Bobby were training some of the students who had recently graduated and wanted to join the team. Dazzler, Hellion and Polaris were getting their asses handed to them between the two X-Men in the room with them and Ororo and Rogue manning the controls.

Since Rogue couldn't actually go in the Danger Room with the others Professor Xavier had suggested that she learn to operate the danger room. He saw her need to be useful around the mansion and provided her with an outlet she so desperately needed.

She was getting good at programing simulations for the team over the last couple of weeks. Scott had yet to be impressed but she had a doozy she was working on that he'd never be able to beat.

"You did what Forge?" Ororo asked patiently.

"I finally figured out the decryption for those files Jean has been hounding me about. In a couple of hours we'll know everything Stryker had on there."

Rogue was certain her heart had stopped for several seconds. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves. By tonight she would know what was inside of her, whether it was her baby or not and possibly even who the father was.

God, she hoped the father wasn't Sunfire. Stryker had made her absorb him a handful of times. He was honestly one of the worst psyches in her head, honestly, if she had to listen to how much of a dishonorable cow she was one more time she would scream. Thankfully Professor Xavier had strengthened her mental barriers. It was also probably for the best that Shiro had left at the first chance he got after they had been rescued, if he had stayed they would have killed each other by now.

"Have you told the Professor?"

"Yeah, he said to tell everyone to meet in the war room after dinner tonight and to bring Rogue." His eyes glanced to her before going back to Storm.

"Thank you Forge, we will see you then." He nodded and left.

Rogue turned back around to watch the young mutants scramble about below them but wasn't really paying attention, her mind running through all of the possibilities that Stryker's files had.

"Rogue?" The calm voice of Storm broke through her thoughts.

She looked up to the weather goddess. "Hm?"

"Are you alright?" Her face was full of concern and it touched Rogue to know that all these people were here for her.

"Yeah, Ah'm fine, jus' nervous is all." She quickly reassured her but on the inside it felt like there were little inch worms crawling all over her stomach.

XxX

It was almost time for dinner and Remy had yet to even catch a glimpse of Rogue today. It was driving him mad that that little minx could give him the slip so easily, she probably wasn't even doing it on purpose.

Grumbling as he walked down the hallway of the teachers wing he received a pleasant surprise when a door ahead of him opened. Out walked the ever lovely Rogue who hadn't seen him and continued down the hall.

He gave a quick thanks to Lady Luck before jogging to catch up with her. "Bonjour, chere." He said as he fell in step with her.

She glanced over to him, startled before offering him a friendly smile. "Hi Remy." She said to him shyly before looking back in front of her.

Gambit instantly thought it was cute. "May Ah have the pleasure of escortin' you ta supper this evenin', chere?" He asked with a gallant wave of his arm and a semi-bow.

Her laughter sounded like bells and he didn't notice when his own smile grew a little larger.

"So tell me, chere, where is it that you hide away all day?"

She glanced at him as they descended the stairs. "Ah don't hide anywhere." She said.

"Ya not a teacher because Ah asked some o' the kiddies bu' ya have a room in the teacher's wing." He broached. Earlier in the day he had run into Piotr in his search for her and had asked the colossal Russian about her.

Unlike the others her age she didn't have studies and as far as Piotr knew, she had no plans to join the X-Men. Usually those who had completed High School and were staying on to either complete their studies or join up as X-Men were grouped on to the third floor above the teacher's wing.

As he had seen, Rogue had a room right next to Ororo's and across from Jean and Scott. Remy knew she was the only mutant from Stryker's pins that had decided to stay at the mansion, perhaps Jean just wanted to keep an eye on her.

Rogue slide him another glance. "You're asking about me?" she asked hesitantly, her already pink cheeks grew a little darker.

He flashed her his most charming smile. "Can ya blame this poor fool?"

She tried not to smile and failed. "Lately Ah've been helpin' out in the control room during Danger Room sessions." She said.

Remy made a quick mental note to come visit her during one of these times. If she was any good maybe he could have her control the Danger Room while he went on a run through it. That would be sure to win him points in her favor.

"Sounds fun." He commented lightly.

She nodded and they turned a corner together. "What do you do when you aren't gathering intel on me?" She asked him with a sly smirk.

He laughed at her quick wit. "Usually Ah take the younger kids out ta burn some of their energy, like gym but without the health portion. Sometimes Ah substitute for the other teachers."

"Rogue."

They both stopped and turned to see Logan coming down the hall after them. Remy pretended he didn't see the way his short, generally angry friend's eyes narrow at the two of them.

"Jean and Charles want you to go ahead down to Forge's lab." He said jerking his head in the direction of the elevator.

Rogue quickly nodded and disappeared down the hall.

Logan remained, giving his best attempt at the stink eye. After living with his Tante for years he had built up an immunity to it.

"Leave that one alone, Gumbo." He ordered. Remy was never particularly good at following orders.

"Ain't she a little young fo' ya, homme?"

Logan rolled his eyes. "Just leave her alone, got it? She can't be toyed around with like your other girls." And with that said, Logan turned around and followed Rogue down the hall.

"No promises." He said to the empty hallway.

Rogue was too sweet to pass up. So what if she couldn't touch, there were plenty of ways around that. Being a thief the lure of the forbidden was a major attraction. He'd be lying if her being untouched by all other's wasn't a major turn on.

A/N

Okay that's the end of that chapter, leave a review to fuel my ego. Also I will be reposting my other stories. Not all right away but one at a time so I can go through and fix mistakes in them.


	6. Chapter 6

Rogue nervously fidgeted with her gloves as she peeked over Forges shoulder. She couldn't make head or tails of what was on his screen but she tried to absorb it all none the less in case she saw her name or mutant number.

Forge was babbling on about how tricky opening he files had been and how he had finally figured it out last night when he was eating a pimento and cheese sandwich.

"Rogue." The soft, steady voice of Jean called from behind her. "Why don't you come and sit down a moment."

Rogue nodded her head and went to take a seat between Jean and Ororo, both of whom were there for moral support as well as the Professor. The other X-Men would take her place after they found the information regarding Rogue's pregnancy as she didn't particularly care about much else.

"Alright, here it is." Forge said and Rogue fought the urge to rush over to him again. "File for Mutant 482-D."

Forge hit a button on his computer and it transferred to a bigger screen on the wall behind her. Turning in her chair her eyes scanned the file. So far it was just a list of her abilities and her stats.

"Scroll down, Forge." Xavier requested politely.

He did until Jean asked him to stop. "There." And she pointed to a section labeled Procedures.

"On November twenty-ninth, Mutant 482-D was placed under sedation in Lab Four." Xavier read out loud. "Thirty-one eggs were removed from subject and placed into storage for tests."

There were several more entries about her absorbing other mutants until finally Xavier reached the one they needed.

"December thirteenth, Lab Eight. Mutant 482-D's eggs were fertilized with Mutant 568-E's sperm eighteen hours prior. Out of the fifteen eggs only one was -"

Rogue stopped listening as her eyes scanned on a head. The passage went on to talk about exactly how the egg was prepared. There was no mention of any weird things done to the fertilized egg. Forty-eight hours after fertilization the egg was transferred to her womb.

Rogue closed her eyes in relief and took a shaky breath. The Professor read on and she only half paid attention as she placed a gentle hand on the small bump, begging for its forgiveness. This was her baby and she had thought of it as a monster, she had wanted it to die. And even though she was against it she had wanted an abortion for a little bit.

"So what does this mean?" Ororo asked.

Rogue quickly blinked back the tears in her eyes and refocused on the conversation.

"It means that whoever Mutant 568-E is would actually be able to touch Rogue without suffering from her mutation." Xavier said. "Stryker created this child under the belief that the child would be immune to Rogue's gift as well. He hoped to use the child and replicate its immunity for himself, so that Rogue could never turn on him."

They were all quiet as they let the information sink in. This little thing inside of her had been nothing more than a means to an end for Stryker.

"Who is mutant 568-E?" Rogue was the first to break the ice.

All eyes turned to Forge who dumbly stared back at them for a moment. "Oh! Right." He chuckled nervously and spun around to face his computer.

Typing away furiously at the keyboard, Forge searched for any information on the mysterious father of her child.

Did she even want to know? What kind of man would willingly take care of a child he had no part in creating? There were plenty of men out there that wanted nothing to do with the children they did help make.

Jean seemed to sense her hesitance, or may have heard her thoughts and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"The file isn't here?" Forge said confused.

"What do you mean?" Ororo spoke up.

"Well the file for Mutant 568-E is here, it's just blank, like its been wiped." He quickly explained.

"None of the mutants we rescued was this mutant." Xavier said looking through the folder in front of him.

"Gambit allowed himself to be caught by Creed in December, perhaps he saw a mutant that was not there when we arrived." Ororo offered.

"According to Stryker's ranking system this mutant was the most powerful he had ever captured before. So there's a good chance that he did escape." Forge said turning back around.

Rogue didn't even know he had a ranking system. She paused when Forge turned his attention to her and she realized she had voiced her musings for the others to hear

"The letters at the end of the mutant's number is to show how powerful they are. The letter A signaling the least powerful and the letter E representing the most powerful. Rogue was classified with the D's."

"Why would Stryker impregnate Rogue instead of using Mutant 568-E to create this immunity to her powers?" Ororo asked.

Rogue listened intently as Xavier explained. "His notes tell us that he was unable to harness Mutant 568-E's mutation. He alludes that this mutant could create vast amounts of energy."

Rogue decided to speak up. "The only energy creating mutants he had me absorb were Sunfire an' Berserker."

Xavier nodded. "I'm afraid we might not ever know who this Mutant 568-E is, Rogue." He said.

Jean stood up and Rogue followed her cue. "That's all we are going to find tonight, go get something to eat and get some rest." She said leading her out into the metallic hallway where she lowered her voice. "You are eating for you and _your _child now."

Rogue hung her head in shame. It shouldn't have been a surprise that Jean had picked up on her fears being a the strong telepath she was. But she was right, this was her child and she needed to start taking care fo it.

With a quick promise that she would stop by the kitchen, she hurried off. Not being apart of the X-Men meant she wasn't privy to their team meetings like what was about to take place.

She slowed her pace to a stop by the elevator when she saw Logan leaning against the wall. "Hey Logan." She said using a bit more cheer for the first time since she had gotten here. "Do ya often hang out in empty halls?"

He snorted. "Was just waiting for the meeting to start, kid." He said and tilted his head to the side, taking her in. "You okay?"

She offered him a heartfelt smile. "Ah will be."

He gave her a smirk and a nod before pushing himself off the wall and heading down to meet the others.

Rogue took a second to watch him go before reaching out to push the button for the elevator. Except, right as she touched it there was a ding and the doors opened. Jubilee, Kitty, Bobby and Piotr were inside.

"Hey Rogue, what are you doing down here?" Kitty asked, stepping out.

'Oh you know, just trying to find out who the unwitting father of my baby that Stryker put in me is. Nothing special.'

Rogue gave a mental snort, yeah right.

"Ah was just talkin' ta Jean." She said instead.

Kitty gave an adorable pout as the boys walked down the hall leaving just the girls. "You really should join up so you can work out in the Danger Room with us." Jubilee said.

Rogue bit her lower lip. Now that she knew the child in her womb was the product of experimentation or of someone else's genetics entirely, she felt a twinge of excitement. She was going to have a baby, normal mothers-to-be shouted from the roof top about their pregnancies so why couldn't she?

Obviously it would have to wait because this was neither the time nor the place for it. And of course Jubilee and Kitty wouldn't be able to focus in their meeting.

"Tell ya what." She said, stepping into the elevator. "Why don't we go out fo' lunch tomorrow an' Ah'll tell y'all why Ah can't workout with y'all in the Danger Room."

"Sure, how about we meet in the garage at like twelve-thirty?" Kitty asked and received a nod from both her and Jubilee.

"Great, Ah'll see you then." She said just before the doors closed. There would be no backing out of it now, she would have to tell them.

Stepping out of the elevator her mind wandered to the book Jean had gotten her after her first ultrasound. It was a week by week description of pregnancy. As soon as she got to her room she would finally be cracking that puppy open.

But all those thoughts vanished from her head when she bumped into someone as she turned the corner. The force wasn't enough to knock her on her ass, but it did send her stumbling back until an arm reached out to her waist to stead her.

She looked up at the someone to see the hypnotizing red eyes of Remy. Oh my, he sure was beautiful, even more so up close.

"Sorry." She quickly apologized, pulling herself from his arms. She tried not to think too much on the sensations his hand caused as it ghosted from the small of her back, around her waist and finally leaving at her hip.

"The apologies are mine, chere." He insisted in that rich chocolate voice of his. A voice like that should only be heard in the dark of night while doing dirty deeds.

Rogue felt her face heat up at the thought of doing those dirty deeds with him. "Ah guess we both weren't watchin' where we were goin'."

He smirked down at her, his red eyes sparkling and she may have melted just a little bit. Remy was the most beautiful man she had ever and Kitty often liked to talk about him and all his lovely features. Hell, she had even heard some of the school girls whispering dreamily about him.

"Please allow me ta make it up ta you an escort you ta wherever it is you are goin', chere." He said gallantly and a chorus of butterflies erupted in her stomach.

She bit lower lip and caught her breath when those bright eyes of his darkened. "Won't ya be late for the team meetin'?" She asked doing an impressive job of not stuttering. He probably thought she was a fool with the way she kept blushing.

That smile of his that promised good times and more lit up his face making his eyes crinkle. "They'll be fine without me, chere." He waved off her concern and held out his arm for her to take. "Now, Ah won't take no fo' an answer."

Rogue glanced down at his arm. If she looped her arm in his she was pretty certain she would only embarrass herself when she wouldn't be able to let it go. So instead she brushed past him.

"Ah'm only goin' ta my room." She said. "But maybe another time."

He tilted his head and snatched her gloved hand up, placing a chaste kiss on her knuckles. "Ah'll hold ya too that." He said before sauntering around the corner and out of sight.

Rogue was tempted to peek around the corner at his retreating form but managed to hold herself back. With a smile she walked back to her room. It wasn't until she passed a mirror in the hall that all the giddiness left her.

Other's wouldn't notice it but being her body, the bump in her stomach was like a neon sign in the dark. Even if Remy was interested in her, he wouldn't be after he found out she was pregnant. She couldn't blame him either, who would want some girl you couldn't touch and was having some unknown man's child implanted in her by a mad man?

Ugh, it sounded like some crazy Spanish soap opera.

She'd just have to show Remy that she wasn't interested in him. That way, it wouldn't hurt so much when she really started showing.

Feeling thoroughly dejected she walked into her room and flopped down face first on her bed.

XxX

"Your late Gambit." Scott snapped as he strolled in at least ten minutes late.

Remy wasn't even sorry, not that he ever was. But on this particular occasion he had got to hold the beautiful Rogue in his arms, even if it was only for a moment.

He smiled and took a seat next to Stormy. "So what'd Ah miss?"

It was hard to tell what Scott was doing but from the tight frown on his lips, he assumed their fearless leader was glaring at him. "Everything, get someone to fill you in later. Dismissed." He said and everyone got up.

He turned to Storm who was frowning at him. "Really, Remy, you can at least try to be on time. These meeting's are important."

"Desole, Stormy." He said, ignoring the narrowing of eyes at the hated rendition of her mutant name. "Ah ran in ta Rogue on my way down."

Storm's face changed to something of pity as she stood up. They were the only two in the war room now. "I don't think you should pursue Rogue." She started.

Remy rolled his eyes. "First Logan an' now you? She ain't gonna break if Ah flirt with her a little bit."

"I'm afraid it's more than that," She said peeking his interest. "But it is not my place to share it with you." She turned to walk out the door and paused. "By the way, do you know of any mutants that were at Stryker's around the same time you were captured and managed to escape before we came?"

Remy paused in thought. There was one who came to mind. "Yeah." He said. "He escaped about three weeks after Ah arrived."

Ororo's eyes lit up. "Do you happen to know his name and mutation?"

"Think he called himself Pulse, he could turn off the energy around him includin' mutant powers." Gambit said, scratching his chin. "Stryker was real pissed when he got away."

Ororo nodded. "Thank you, Remy." She said and left.

XxX

Ororo hurried down the hall to where Jean and Charles were speaking in low tones by the medical bay. They both looked up when she came closer.

"I believe Remy may know who Mutant 568-E is." She said quietly in case anyone was around to overhear them.

"Why don't we finish this somewhere more private?" Charles suggested.

Jean nodded and lead them through the medical bay and into her office. Being the last one through the door, Ororo closed it behind them to ensure privacy.

"Now, as you were saying Ororo?" Charles said, giving her the cue to finish.

"I spoke to Remy and he said there was one mutant who was there when he arrived but escaped three weeks later." She told them. "He said the mutant's power was to turn off the energy around him including other mutations."

Xavier straightened up in his wheelchair. "This may very well be the child's father. Though useful, a mutation like that is hardly powerful."

He and Jean shared a look.

"What is it?" Sometimes telepaths forgot not everyone had the privy of listening to everyone's thoughts.

"Stryker's notes on the fetus indicated that the sperm came from a mutant with the ability to create vast amounts of energy. Presumably this meant that he creates either enough energy where Rogue can't absorb it, or the energy he generates acts as a shield." Jean explained. "Gambit said that this mutant could only shut off energy around him."

"Still, it wouldn't hurt to track this mutant down. Perhaps Stryker didn't have all of the information." Charles said.

Ororo desperately hoped that this was the father of Rogue's child. The girl needed more support then just the friends she had made here over the last few weeks. "Perhaps I can have Remy sit down with Piotr and he can draw a sketch of the mutant."

Xavier nodded and Ororo left the two telepaths to continue the discussion she had interrupted. She needed to find both the resident artist and the resident heartbreaker so the could find a missing father.

XxX

Jean sat down heavily in the chair behind her desk. When she looked up, Xavier had his fingers laced together and was frowning.

"Do you think we should have told her what we suspect?" She asked her mentor.

Xavier glanced up at her and shook his head. "Right now we have nothing to go on." He said. "It would be foolish to plant that seed in everyone's head before we have all the facts."

Jean nodded, knowing that he was right. She hated to keep things from her friends, especially something so important.

XxX

Rogue sat cross-legged on her bed as she flipped through the book. It was like a horror novel of things that would happen to her body. If they made girls read this in health class there would never be another teen pregnancy again.

She snapped the book shut and tossed it into the chair across her room. Looking down at the bulge in her belly she poked it. "Promise not to make me too fat, will ya."

Her stomach didn't move, nor did she feel any movement within. It wasn't like she expected it to hear her or anything, but some sort of sign that everything would be alright would be nice.

She waited a few more minutes before flopping back on her bed. Not one freaking sign anywhere. This of course meant she was screwed.

"You better hope whoever ya daddy is, that he ain't a wimp." She said to the bump and gave it another poke to make sure it was listening.

A/N

Alright y'all here it is. hope you enjoy. I think by now you all should know who Rogue's baby daddy is.


	7. Chapter 7

Rogue sat across from Jubilee and Kitty in some burger joint half an hour away from the mansion and two minutes from the mall. Apparently taking the highway to get here was worth it because after lunch the two girls across from her had every intention of dragging her along to shop.

"So, why is it you can't play with us in the Danger Room?" Jubilee asked before dunking a french fry into her chocolate milkshake.

Rogue had been agonizing al morning on how to tell her two new best friends that she was going to have a baby. The only problem was, that in the short time she had known them, she had come to realize how excitable they were. Not to mention the were notorious gossip mongers.

Of course that meant she didn't have to tell anyone else about the baby. She positively dreaded having that conversation with Remy and had avoided him all morning. Rogue liked it when he flirted with her, but that would all stop the larger her stomach grew and then she would be alone again.

"Hello, Rogue? Are you still with us?" Kitty asked, waving a hand in front of her face.

"Sorry." She said sheepishly and looked down to her own strawberry milkshake. It was the first time she had had in appetite in weeks. "Now, y'all have ta promise not ta get too excited."

She looked up to see them both lean in, giving her a sharp nod.

"I'm pregnant." There it was, she dropped the bomb. Now it was time to see the explosion.

Jubilee's jaw dropped and the fry Kitty had been holding fell into her lap.

"What, like, really?" Kitty was the first one to ask.

"Yeah, really." She said and used her straw to stir the melting milkshake.

"But how?" Jubilee had finally found her voice.

"While Ah was in Stryker's - " She was cut off by Jubilee.

"Ohmigod!" She said earning several funny looks from those around her. "Stryker's the father?"

Kitty quickly elbowed her and she shot apologizing looks around. When she looked back her voice was dramatically lower. "Did he rape you?"

Rogue's mind was blank. She couldn't even picture Stryker as having male parts. To her he would alway be a monster in a lab coat. "No, Ah wasn't raped."

"So, you had sex with one of the other mutants?" Kitty asked giving her a good look over as though there was something she had missed in the last couple of weeks. "How did you get around your mutation?"

"Ah didn't get around my mutation at all." She told them and paused when the waitress came to refill their waters. When she was sure she was far enough away she looked back to her friends.

"When a mutant was captured, one of the first thing Stryker had done was to take samples of everything. Skin, hair, blood, saliva and in my case, eggs." The look of horror on their face's seemed appropriate. "He made a test tube baby using my eggs and one of the other mutant's sperm."

They were silent for a full minute, trying to absorb the atrocity he had committed against her.

"Apparently, whoever this mutant is, is powerful enough where he could resist my mutation. Stryker wanted ta use the baby to replicate its immunity to me for himself."

Both girls already knew how he had planned to use Rogue as a mutant killer.

"But why not use the guy?" Kitty asked.

Jubilee nodded along with her. "Wouldn't it have been easier to use the dad?"

Rogue just shrugged her shoulders. "Forge said someone had erased the file on him so we don't know. But the Professor said he was powerful and could have escaped before they showed up to the rescue."

They were quiet again, their shocked faces transforming to show their pity. Rogue looked away to keep herself from snapping at them, she didn't want pity.

"It's like, some bad spanish soap opera." Kitty said after a moment.

Rogue couldn't help herself and snorted with laughter. Jubilee followed next as she snickered into her hand. Kitty just shook her head and tried her hardest not to smile, she failed miserably.

"So what if you don't find the dad." Jubilee said as she threw a couple of fries into her bubble gum pink rimmed lips. "I bet it's a boy anyway and you know what that means?"

Rogue glanced to Kitty, but she looked just as confused.

Jubilee rolled her eyes. "That means you've got yourself a mama's boy."

"It also means we get to go shopping!" Kitty squealed and Jubilee's eyes lit up. Perhaps she should have kept this a secret if only to avoid the hours of shopping they would undoubtedly drag her along for.

They spent the next fifteen minutes or so talking about all things baby. It wasn't until they were in the car that Jubilee spoke up.

"So is this a secret, or what?"

"Well, not much point keeping it a secret, Ah'm already showing."

Jubilee and Rogue screamed as the car swerved into on coming traffic because Kitty tried to get a look at Rogue's stomach.

"Sorry, sorry." She said, refocusing her attention on the road. "I'll just wait until we get back before I look."

Jubilee gave her an incredulous look before turning in her seat to face Rogue again. "So we can tell people? Or do you want to do that?"

Rogue quickly shook her head. "No, y'all can tell. The Senior X-Men already know an' Ah only planned on tellin' y'all."

"Sweet." There was nothing Jubilee loved better than a juicy piece of gossip and Rogue had just handed her a golden nugget.

XxX

Remy stalked the halls looking for that little skunk haired vixen. He had been actively searching for her after his morning class and had finally given up when Stormy said she had gone out with Kitty and Jubilee.

He was almost likely to think she was avoiding him. But that was ridiculous because he hadn't done anything to push her away. He was sure to give her space as her mutation might make her skittish about being around other people. And especially after the whole Stryker ordeal. Storm had filled him in on exactly what Stryker had planned on doing with Rogue.

Remy was walking past the library when he head Bobby. It must be study time for the accountant in training. "Rogue's pregnant!"

But apparently Stormy hadn't told him everything about the pretty little southern belle.

"Keep your voice down, Bobby." Jubilee hissed.

Remy flattened himself against the wall as close to the door as he dared. Rogue certainly didn't look pregnant. But if she was then that meant she already had a lover who had figured a way around her mutation.

"How did she even get pregnant?" Bobby hissed back at her. "Who's the dad?"

"She doesn't know. Rogue said Stryker took some dude's sperm that he captured and mixed it with her to make a baby."

"But why? Was he planning on making a mutant army or something?"

"No. Rogue said that his files said that the mutant would be able to touch her without being absorbed but probably escaped before Wolverine and the others rescued them."

The conversation he had with Stormy last night suddenly made sense. Pulse was a vile cockroach who had escaped as soon as he could, selling out four more mutants along the way. The thought of his spawn growing inside of Rogue made him feel ill.

He wished he had known about this earlier when Piotr had asked him to describe the scum so Xavier could track him down. If he had known, he never would have told Ororo about him. Remy could just see him showing up and crawling all over Rogue.

Needing fresh air he pushed off the wall and quickly found an exit which just so happened to be through a second story window. He dropped down without paying attention and almost missed the landing when he heard a short scream.

Remy staggered, startled by the scream, before regaining his balance and stood up. When he looked over it was to see Rogue with both hands covering her mouth and her bright green eyes opened wide. His eyes involuntarily drifted to her abdomen before snapping back to her face.

She looked up to the open window above him. "Did you jus' jump outta that window?"

He glanced at the window and smiled as answer enough.

"Alright then." She said, still giving him a cautious look before turning around.

If this instant had been ten minutes ago he would have certainly flirted with her. Remy would have teased her about hiding away from him all day and then complemented her on her beautiful smile.

But now he knew the ugly truth. She was carrying the seed of that bastard who didn't deserve to breathe much less have a child with someone like Rogue.

And he couldn't very well continue to flirt around with her like he had planned on. Not when there was another man's child involved. No wonder Lo

gan and Stormy had told him to stay away from her.

He watched her go, an odd feeling in his chest that he didn't care to dwell on rose up. He couldn't help but feel like there might have been something great between them, only to be thrown away before it even began.

Shaking his head he pulled out a cigarette and lit it up.

A/N

Alright, I know this is short but I hope you liked it just the same.


	8. Chapter 8

That day when she had been walking in the garden and Remy had jumped out of a window was the day he stopped paying attention to her. She knew it would happen, especially after she told Jubilee that her pregnancy wasn't a secret, but it hurt just the same. He had taken some sort of undercover mission the next day.

Now two months later he was still gone.

Rogue had kept herself busy in those two months. Between helping out around the mansion where she coud, mostly filing, and everyone going gaga over the baby, she had her hands full. That wasn't to say she was still entirely happy with her situation, but she could most certainly deal with her new lot in life.

The female students in particular loved to come up to her in the halls and gush over her ever-growing stomach. There was even a bet going around the whole school on whether she was having a boy or girl. The Professor had even purchased some high-tech ultrasound machine for the Med-Lab claiming that they might need it in the future when she had protested.

One thing she could do without however, were the constant hot flashes. It was late April in upstate New York and she had never been hotter. Everyone else seemed to be fine in the seventy-two degree weather, but she felt as though she were melting. According to that awful it was a symptom and her unfortunate luck to be pregnant in the warmer months.

She was also having a hard time sleeping as she could no longer get comfortable on her bed, or anywhere really.

So that's how she found herself with her body buried in the cool air of the fridge at three in the morning. At first she had come down for a midnight snack after a quick trip to the bathroom, but the second that cool air had hit her she just couldn't bear to close the door.

She was so caught up in releaving the heat that she didn't hear anyone come into the kitchen. Well until the person coughed uncomfortably from behind her.

With a startled gasp she spun around and came face to face with the devil eyes of Remy LeBeau. His devilishly handsome face tilted to the side and raised an eyebrow in amusement. After a delayed moment she realized how under dressed she was and backed up into the still open fridge.

"Ah didn' think anyone else would be up." She explained for her undress and tugged at her shorts. Damn he looked good. "When did you get back?"

XxX

It had been a long two months since he had left and was looking forward to sleeping in his old bed again. Walking out of the garage he veered off into the kitchen for a quick bite to eat. He hadn't thought anyone would be up this late but the light was on.

Hoping it was Logan having a late night beer he strolled in. What he had expected was a grouchy little man sitting at the counter nursing a beer. What he got, was the two-tone haired goddess that had plagued his dreams for the last couple of weeks.

She was in a pair of tiny red shorts that showed off her long, lean legs. The white tank top she wore dipped low in the back, showing him that she was braless. He had never seen so much of her skin before and it was an instant turn on. She didn't even look pregnant.

He coughed uncomfortably and nearly groaned at the gasp she made. He had had many dreams about her making that exact noise during other activities. Her face flushed an adorable pink that traveled south to a glorious view of her cleavage and he allowed his eye to travel down to her perky nipples.

She seemed to realize her state of undress and quickly back up and away from him into the fridge once more. It was then that he saw the visible sign of her pregnancy. Her once flat stomach was now bulging out from her to make room for the growing baby.

He quickly hid his frown and instead feigned amusement.

"Ah didn' think anyone else would be up." She said quickly, her cheeks reddening just a little more. "When did you get back?"

He was so caught up in committing her image to memory that he didn't answer right away. When he finally realized what she asked he quickly answered. "Jus' now."

He moved forward and reached behind her to grab a bottle of water. She leaned even further back, her eyes glued to his. He couldn't help the smirk at her reaction.

Pulling the bottle out he walked over to the counter to give her some room and a minute to gather herself. She turned around, closing the door to the fridge and opening the one for the freezer, a moment later she walked over to him with a small tub of Mississippi Mud Ice Cream in her hand and a spoon.

She actually looked like she was glowing, pregnancy suited her.

"Wha' have ya been up ta, chere?" He asked. He should have left her alone in the kitchen, but the masochist in him just wanted to be near her.

"Nothin' much really." She said taking another bite of her ice cream.

His eyes fixated on her mouth when her tongue darted out to lick them clean.

"Xavier ever find Pulse?" He asked. The sickening image of their happy little family floated throuh his mind and made him want to blow something up. preferably Pulse.

She looked up surprised before understanding dawned on her. "That's right." He southern twang as strong as ever. "You're the one who identified him."

He nodded and took a long swig of his water to keep from saying anything derogatory about the man.

"Yeah, The Professor managed ta track him down a while ago." She scowled and Remy's mood lifted. "Ah'm not sure if ya know, but the others thought he might be the father." She said gesturing to her stomach with her spoon.

Remy nodded. He felt like a villain for hoping that he wasn't the father.

"As it turns out, he isn't." Her scowl deepened. "Doesn't stop him from tellin' everyone he is anyway an' followin' me around like a lost puppy."

Remy's brows knit together. "Why would he do that?"

Rogue rolled her eyes in disgust. "Ah over heard him braggin' ta some of the senior boys about gettin' the untouchable under his belt before he blew outta here."

Now he was scowling. Sure he wanted to sleep with her too, but not as a prize belt buckle to wear around. He was attracted to her, admittedly, her body was what first drew him in. But she was sweet and sassy and had a sharp wit about her. It was hard not to want someone so completely perfect in every way.

"Ah can' imagine the others would put up with him sayin' such things." He said. Why hadn't anyone gotten rid of this guy yet?

"He has some sob story about a hard life an' how he was forced inta thievin' an' now that he's here he can have a second chance an' be a do-gooder. Ah don't think anyone really buys it but The Professor is too good a man ta kick him out."

A sudden thought struck him. "Are ya down here hidin' out from him?" The guilty look on her face was all the confirmation he needed.

"He's probably waitin' for me in my room right now." She said and gave a hateful jab to her ice cream with the spoon.

"How often does he sneak inta your room at night, chere?" He asked and had to actually concentrate on not charging the water bottle in his hand.

Another jab to the ever softening ice cream. "Couple nights a week. He says people already think we are doin' it so we might as well."

He hated seeing her so upset over some scum bag. "An' what do you say ta him?"

Rogue lifted her chin up and glared defiantly out. "That Ah'd rather die." She drawled the words out in that honey dipped southern accent of hers.

He chuckled, a naughty idea running through his head. "How would you like ta boot him outta there, chere?" He flashed her a wicked smile and was pleased at the light blush it produced.

"How do ya plan on doin' that?" She asked and licked her spoon. He followed the movement of her doing as it darted over the cool metal surface of her spoon. "'Cause if you are wantin' ta blow him up, Ah just want you ta know Ah support ya."

He returned the smirk she sent him with one of his own. "Sadly no, chere, though Ah can arrange it fo' him ta never be seen again." She laughed that bell-like laugh of hers that made him melt just a little bit. He decided not to tell her that he wasn't kidding and was actually considering that course so long as it made her happy.

She turned around and walked back over to the freezer to put the tub away. Remy's eyes zeroed in on the way her hips swayed side to side. Right then, at that moment, he wanted nothing more than to sink his teeth in to her tight little ass.

Maybe he shouldn't follow along with his plan if he couldn't control himself and right now his control was tenuous at best. He wouldn't want to give her the wrong idea that he was interested. It didn't matter if he was interested, he wasn't the relationship type. He had learned long ago when he was fifteen and he had been walking down the altar to Belladonna. He hadn't even got to the I do's before the whole thing had been called off. He took that as a sign to stay away from relationships.

That's why he had backed off of Rogue when he had learned that she was pregnant. She needed a relationship and he couldn't give that to her. He would only disappoint her and he liked her too much to do that.

He was around the counter and across the room before she turned around. When she did, a startled squeak escaped her mouth. "We better get goin', Ah don' want ta keep ya up alright." He was sure to keep a polite distance from her no matter how hard his body screamed at him to pin her to the fridge.

She nodded and followed him out of the kitchen. "So how are ya gonna get rid of him if he's in there?" She asked.

That wicked grin was back in place. "Ah can be very persuasive, chere."

She just looked up to him with those big, bright eyes of hers and a smile. A man could fall in love with a woman like her. He didn't know she was having similar thoughts.

Finally making it to her room she moved in front of him and opened the door. There, sprawled out on her bed was that same squinty eyed bastard from the pins.

XxX

Rogue could have screamed in frustration when she saw Pulse on her bed without a shirt. Why wouldn't he just take a hint? There was nothing remotely appealing about him in any way shape or form to her. Though she had heard some of the younger girls in the school giggle about how cute he was, she just couldn't see past his awful personality.

When he had first come to the mansion he had taken one look at her and said that he'd buy a ticket to that ride. She hadn't been showing as much then and he had taken every opportunity to tell her what a banging body she had. He even had a little pet name for her that never failed to make her lip curl in disgust, babe.

Even after Jean had proved that he wasn't Mutant 568-E he still stuck around. He would corner her and pull her into rooms to turn her power off and try to stick his tongue down her throat. That was when she started traveling in groups to keep him at bay. A few days he had upped his game to breaking into her room at night.

She wasn't even entirely sure why he bothered. Pulse could only shut her powers down for fifteen minutes. When she had brought that significant fact up he had quickly told her with a skeevy smile that he only needed ten.

"What the hell are you doin'?" She demanded, crossing her arms over her chest and wishing she had on more clothing as his eyes racked over her form. It would make her feel better even if the clothes would have been soaked through with sweat.

He stood up and walked over. "Waiting on you, babe." He said. His eyes did that funny thing that told her he had just used his powers to turn hers off.

She leaned back to put more distance between them and bumped into Remy. For a moment her anger at seeing Pulse had driven Remy from her mind. It seemed that Pulse saw him too because he stopped walking toward her.

"You're from the pins." Pulse said a cautious look in his eye and his stance rigid.

She glanced behind her had Remy and had to stifle the gasp she managed to catch in her throat. Remy was no longer there, in his place was Gambit and he looked like the devil himself. The way his red eyes glowed in the dark and the shadows playing off his angular face would have anyone running to confess their sins.

"Oui, an' you're the one who traded the lives o' four other mutants fo' your freedom." He said, his deep voice rumbling through his chest and into her back. She shuddered.

Pulse said nothing but his complexion dropped a few shades.

"Wha' ya doin' in here, homme?" His voice was dangerous and she had never been more turned on in her life.

"I was waiting on Rogue." He said, straightening up in a feeble attempt at growing a backbone.

The cool touch of a leather-covered hand made its way to her uncovered shoulder. "Chere, ya want him in here?"

Her eyes narrowed at Pulse. "No, Ah don't." She snapped.

"Ya bes' be leavin' then."

Pulse clenched his jaw and moved forward to walk out of the room. Remy's hand on her shoulder pulled her back to let him pass. Pulse avoided both of their eyes with a scowl on his face. It was clear who the dominate male here was.

As soon as he rounded the corner Rogue spun around and wrapped her arms around Remy's middle in a tight hug. "You saved me." She squealed into his hard chest. If he hadn't been radiating a comforting heat she would have been sure he had been carved from marble.

Suddenly realizing what she was doing, she pulled back as though she had been burned. She couldn't bear to look up at him and instead choose to look down at her feet. "Sorry."

"'S alright, chere." He chuckled and she looked up. His eyes were still glowing but they weren't as menacing. "Any time ya need a rescue jus' give me a call, chere." He said before sauntering off and disappearing several doors away from her.

It was clear he was only interested in friendship now, but that didn't stop her from wanting him. With a sigh she turned into her own room and shut the door behind her.

A/N

I actually rewrote this at the last minute. I was going to have Pulse just pass through and not really make an appearance but I decided against that because I just love to hate him. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it so please leave a review.


	9. Chapter 9

Rogue leaned up to look at the screen. Jean moved the probe on her stomach until there was a crystal clear view of the baby's profile. She did the usual measurements and informed Rogue that the baby was right on schedule. Its little heartbeat was still a flutter and the more she listened to it the more love she had in her heart for the baby.

She was so ashamed at her behavior before, hopefully she/he would never find out that she used to think it an abomination.

"Are you sure you want to know the sex?" Jean asked with a smirk.

Rogue returned her smirk with one of her own. "If Ah don't find out now than Jubilee is gonna drag me down here ta find out for herself."

Jubilee had become the mansion's resident bookie and as soon as word about the pregnancy broke out bets had been placed. Half the mansion was convinced she was having a boy, the other half a girl. Jamie, the youngest mutant at only eight years old, had bet two mars bars and a bag of sour patch kids that it was a boy.

Jean chuckled and moved the probe around until Rogue wasn't sure what she was looking at. "So what's that?" She asked after a minute.

Jean pushed the probe harder into her stomach but it didn't hurt. "That, Rogue, is what proves that your having a little boy and not a girl." Looks like Jamie's doubling his candy stash after all.

Rogue tilted her head as Jean used the mouse to circle her little guy's parts. "Huh." was all she could say.

Jean messed with the keyboard of buttons and switches before removing the probe and switching the screen off. Handing Rogue a paper towel she turned back around to print off proof that her little boy was indeed all boy.

Rogue quickly wiped the goo off of her stomach before sitting up and pulling her shirt back down. Jean turned back around to hand her a strip of her ultrasound photos. He was getting so big, how on Earth was he planning on getting out when the time came.

"Now on your next visit we'll be able to use the 3D Ultrasound and get a good idea of what he looks like." She said. "I'll schedule you for May twenty-fifth."

Rogue nodded only half paying attention as she smiled down at her little boy. God, she wanted to hold him. She still had worries that he wouldn't be immune to her skin but Jean and the Professor had assured her many times that he would be.

It left her wondering what kind of man his father was and if he was even alive. What kind of mutation was powerful enough to run interference with hers? Was he a good man? What did he look like and would the baby look anything like him? If they did find him how would he feel about the baby? Would he want anything to do with him, with her?

These questions pounded away at her brain until she had a headache.

"Rogue?" She looked up to see Jean looking at her strangely. "Are you feeling alright?"

She nodded and started fanning herself when she could feel the sweat on her back start to drip down her spine. "Ah'm really hot." In fact she felt it was getting hotter by the minute. Being covered head to toe didn't help much.

Jean nodded sympathetically but she wasn't the one drenched in sweat. "Be sure to drink lots of water and maybe try taking a cold bath." She suggested.

Rogue was two steps ahead of her and planned on dumbing a bucket of ice in the tub with her.

"Thanks Jean, Ah'll see ya later." She said before hopping off the table and walking out.

She opened the door of the med-bay to see Remy walking by. He stopped and smiled at her. "Mornin' chere."

He was wearing an old worn out t-shirt promoting "LeRoy's Catfish' and a pair of loose sweatpants. There was a water bottle in one hand a damp towel in the other. He had clearly just come from a workout.

She smiled and moved out of the med-bay to walk beside him. "Mornin' Remy."

"Wha' are you doin' down here so early?" He asked.

Rogue started fanning herself again as the heat kicked it up a notch. But that could be that Remy was so hot she was actually feeling the effects. He was built like an angel triple dipped in sin.

"Check-up an' ultrasound." They both paused as she showed him the pictures. "It's a boy!" Remy looked down at the little black and white pictures and smiled.

It had been about a week since he had come back and so far he had only been carefully friendly with her. He was always around but he had stopped flirting completely and not just with her. Even Kitty said he seemed off.

He was also the only one who could scare Pulse off, for some reason he was afraid of him.

The only thing Rogue could think of was that he had met someone while he was away and that's why he had stopped. There was a jealous pang every time she thought of some other girl holding his affections.

"Defiantly a garcon." He said as he moved in closer. Thank God she was wearing that new deodorant. "Ya know, Remy's a great name." He said casually and glancing out of the side of his eye at her before giving her a wink.

She rolled her eyes and pushed away the dizzy spell that followed. "Not you too."

He started walking again and Rogue struggled to fall in step with him. She needed to lay down somewhere quick.

"Where are you going, Gumbo?" Logan said walking toward them. "We've got a session in the Danger Room in five."

"Rogue was jus' tellin' me how she would love ta name her lil' boy Remy." He joked and looked down. "Chere, ya alright? Ya don' look so good."

Her eyes drifted up to him lazily and the heat around her went up the next notch. Black spots danced in her vision.

"Rogue?" Logan said.

She felt like she was falling for all of a moment before she blacked out. The last thing she saw were those glowing red eyes.

XxX

"Rogue?" Logan said right before her eyes rolled up into the back of her head and she collapsed.

Remy lurched forward in time to catch her before she hit the floor. Even through her clothes he could feel the heat radiating off of her. "She's burnin' up." He said lifting her into his arms.

"Go get Xavier and Iceman." He called over his shoulder as he turned and ran her back to the infirmary. They needed to cool her down fast and who better than the master fo cool himself?

Her head bobbed lifelessly as he ran down the hall and skidded to a halt outside of the doors. Using his elbow he pushed the button that allowed access. Rushing inside he laid her down on the nearest exam table.

"Jean!" He bellowed out. "Jean, get out here!"

Jean walked out of her office with a scowl. "Really, Remy - " She stopped her scolding when she caught sight of Rogue and rushed over, grabbing a pair of latex gloves on the way. "What happened?"

"We were jus' talkin' an' all the sudden she collapsed." He said grabbing his own pair of latex gloves. Growing up in the Guild he had a good amount of medical training. "She's burnin' up."

She nodded and began checking her pulse. "Get a thermometer out of that top drawer there." She said pointing behind him.

He flung open the drawer and pulled one of the new ones out. Running it over her forehead as Jean checked her eye dilation, he urged her to wake up.

"One hundred an' two point six." He said.

"Quickly we need to get her clothes off and submerge her in an ice bath." Jean had already peeled one glove off.

"Ah sent Logan for Xavier an' Iceman."

He moved down to her feet, flinging her boots and socks off. Jean had removed the other glove and was working on unbuttoning her pants. Leaning forward he grabbed handfuls of her jeans and ripped them off.

Jean stopped for a moment to stare at him. "Undressin' women is my specialty." When in panic crack a joke. He moved back up by her side and quickly helped Jean free Rogue of her shirt.

Remy knew this was neither the time nor the place to have such thoughts. But he couldn't help but marvel at how beautiful she was, flushed and covered in a thin shine of sweat.

Jean ordered him to watch her before rushing off into another room. He heard water running so he assumed she was starting that ice bath. Where the hell was Bobby with the ice?

The doors to the infirmary hissed open and he saw Bobby, Logan was probably helping Xavier get down here. "Get in there and fill the tub up with ice." He barked.

He reached out to pull Rogue into his arms once more before stopping himself. She was in nothing but her pretty little panties and bra (my, those were a nice set of breasts), and he was in a short-sleeved shirt.

Frantically glancing around he spotted a folded up blanket on the end of one of the other exam tables. He snatched it up and laid it across his arms before going back over to Rogue. Gently, he scooped her back into his arms making sure they didn't have contact and moved her into the other room.

There was a metal bathtub with a high back almost full of water and small round ice cubes. Jean was setting up a small machine behind it, while Bobby had his hands extended over the tub with the balls of ice falling from them.

Jean turned around and using her telekinesis, picked Rogue up out of his arms and lowered her into the tub. The water hissed and steam rose up as she was lowered in. That was not normal.

Bobby doubled the out put of ice until Rogue was sitting in a watery slushy type bath. The steam continued to rise while he moved around to squat next to her head and keep it from submerging.

Jean worked around him, attaching cords to her forehead. "Thank you, Bobby." She said briskly. "That should be enough for now."

"Uhh, yeah." He said before walking out. Remy caught his lingering glance on Rogue's body. For reasons he didn't want to think about, it made him grow hot under the collar.

"Keep her head above the water."

She moved back to the machine and flipped it on. An accelerated beeping noise filled the room and he glanced over to see that her heart beat was only at one hundred and forty beats per minute. Her temperature on the other hand was now one hundred and ten.

"Wha's wrong wit' her?" He asked.

The heat she was producing was leaking through the gloves uncomfortably.

"I'm not sure, but this isn't a fever." She said hesitantly. "I think it might be a symptom of her pregnancy."

"Burnin' from the inside out is a symptom of pregnancy?" He asked, his voice rising with his anger at the situation.

"It is if you're a mutant." Jean said gravely. "Stay here with her and call for me if she wakes up, I need to make a few calls."

She left closing the door behind her. He could hear Logan and Charles in the next room but didn't care to listen in. Instead he frowned down at Rogue willing her to open those brilliant green eyes of hers.

XxX

Rogue had been awake for all of five minutes when Jean strolled into the room, a clipboard in her hands.

"Oh, you're awake."

She knew right away, that she was in the medical bay. What she didn't know was why she was there or how long she had been there. "What happened?" She asked, her voice still rough from sleep.

Jean took a seat on the edge of the hospital bed. "Do you remember when I told you that you might have some odd symptoms because you are a mutant?"

Rogue nodded not fully understanding because her brain was not quite fully functional yet.

"I've been calling doctors all across the country who've dealt with mutant pregnancies before. All of them said that the women experienced trouble with their own mutation at various times after the first trimester. But, there wasn't one reported case of showing different mutations other than their own."

Rogue just stared at her dumbly and blinked.

"I believe, that because you have the ability to absorb other's powers, that those powers will be flare to life until the end of your pregnancy. This means you will have to have someone with you at all times."

Working over time her brain played catch up. Her mind immediately pictured Piotr with his back to her blushing furiously while she tried to take a shower. "What! Why?"

"What do you remember before waking up?" She asked.

A pair of burning red eyes floated through her mind. "Ah was talkin' ta Remy." She said, the memory was fuzzy at best. "It was really hot and then Ah think Ah passed out."

Jean nodded. "Your temperature reached one hundred and fifteen before you started to cool back down and that's when we had you in an ice bath for over thirty minutes. We were lucky the baby wasn't harmed."

Rogue automatically reached out to hug her belly safely in her arms, fear gripping her heart. Even though he came about in an awful way, the baby inside of her was the best thing to ever happen to her. She couldn't let anything happen to him.

"Alright." She conceded.

"You'll make it through this, Rogue. We are all here for you."

Rogue gave her a grateful smile before laying back down. She still felt completely drained of energy.

A/N

I love how much y'all are enjoying this, your reviews are great and spur me on. Now if anyone has any funny pregnancy stories that happened to you or someone you know I would love to hear them and maybe put them in the story as happening to Rogue.


	10. Chapter 10

Rogue walked through the seemingly endless racks of clothing. Jean and the others had insisted on taking her shopping for maternity clothes now that she was five months pregnant. Admittedly, she was getting a little large for her clothes and had started using a hair band to hold the button on her jeans together a couple of weeks ago.

The only problem with shopping maternity clothes this time of year was that they were all short sleeve or sleeveless. A girl with her mutation couldn't afford to walk around with so much skin showing. Especially now that her powers were on the fritz and random powers she had absorbed before were popping up.

It had been two weeks since that first incident of someone else mutation popping up unexpectedly and she hadn't had another episode since.

Glancing over she saw that Kitty and Jubilee's arms were loaded down with a mountain of clothes each. Jean and Ororo each held only a couple of garments. Rogue looked down to her own collection to see only a pair of jeans.

She would be the first to admit that she wasn't a retail queen, but this was ridiculous. When she was sure no one was looking she snatched a couple of shirts up and threw them into her arms.

"Alright, Rogue." Kitty said and she turned around, the mountain of clothes had grown since she last looked. "Go into the changing room and you can start trying these on."

Rogue narrowed her eyes as she considered making a break for it. Sure she wouldn't be able to run as fast as she normally did, but there's no way Kitty or Jubilee could chase her down with their arms full of clothes.

_'Don't even think about it.'_

Rogue looked over to Jean who was smiling. Damn telepaths.

Turning around she trudged into the dressing room where Jubilee had already hung her selections up. Kitty marched in after her and did the same before leaving Rogue and closing the door behind her.

It must have taken two hours to try on every last stitch of clothing until finally she had a wardrobe. Walking out of the store, she had three pairs of pants, one skirt, ten shirts, two nightgowns and three dresses. She was set for the rest for her pregnancy.

"So Rogue." Jubilee said as they all took a seat in the food cart with their trays of food. "Have you thought of any names yet?"

Rogue, who had taken a large bite of her sub, shook her head. Gulping down the decked out sandwich with its contradicting ingredients and taking a gulp of her coke, she answered. "Ah don't even know where ta start."

"You need a baby name book." Kitty said.

"Actually, I think I saw one in the library not to long ago." Jean spoke up from beside her.

Rogue paused. "Why would he have a baby name book?"

Jean just shrugged her shoulders. The library at the mansion was huge and held many first editions and apparently there was one book in there, amongst the books of poems and almanacs and classic literature, that was completely devoted to helping you name your baby.

"You and Remy have been hanging around a lot lately." Rogue looked over to Kitty. Was she talking to her? She was looking at her.

But just to make sure so she didn't make a fool of herself. "Me?"

Kitty's smile widened and one look at Jubilee told her that she and kitty were thinking along the same lines. Even Jean had a knowing smile on her face. Ororo, however had a small frown as she picked at her salad.

"Well, who else?" She said with a laugh. "So what's the deal?"

Rogue's eyes widened as she finally got what Kitty was asking. "No." She said shaking her head. "There is no deal there. He gets rid of Pulse for me when he's around." She dismissed.

Jubilee and Kitty shared a look that made her want to smack them.

"It does seem like he is spending more and more time around you." This time it was Jean that spoke up.

Rogue turned to her, her mouth dropping open in shock. Exactly whose side was she on here? "Ah swear nothin's goin' on." She said though no one looked convinced. "It's not like anything could happen anyway an' even it could, Ah'm not exactly prime datin' material here." She gestured to her stomach.

Kitty rolled her eyes. "Remy has the hots for you Rogue."

Rogue just shook her head and smiled. As much as she wished it were true, she knew it wasn't. Gambit had only ever been politely friendly with her and she rarely sound herself with him alone. In fact since his first night back they had always been in a group setting.

"What about Piotr?" She asked slyly.

Kitty blushed until her whole face was scarlet. "What about him?" Her tone suggested she was overly indifferent to the tall, quiet X-Man.

"Even Logan has noticed your affections for our friend." Ororo said with a smile.

Kitty quickly buried her face into her hands. "So everyone knows?"

The group giggled as Kitty's blush deepened until even her ears were red.

XxX

It was near nine at night when Remy walked past one of the rec rooms. He knew there was some sort of movie night going on but hadn't planned on going. Well, he hadn't planned on going until Kitty Reached through the wall to pull him in to the darkened room.

Almost every available spot had been taken. His eyes zeroed in on Rogue who was looking thoroughly uncomfortable. She was in an overstuffed leather chair that was right next to the love seat that Pulse just happened to be sitting in. The man had scooted as close to Rogue as the furniture would allow and Rogue had smushed herself into the high arm of the chair in an attempt to get away from him.

"You'll love this movie." Kitty said and it was then he realized she had been talking to him. "Besides, that chair Rogue is sitting in is big enough for two."

He looked down to Kitty to see she was giving him a meaningful look. A moment of panic jolted through him like electricity. Did she know that secretly he wanted Rogue? Was he that obvious?

He had kept his face carefully blank at her words and she elaborated thinking she was unclear. "Pulse is, like, totally afraid of you!" She whispered to him and cast a glance at the mutant. "And Rogue hates him, so you have to go save her." She pleaded with a pitiful look in her eyes.

His secret was safe.

"Then Ah better go take my seat, petite." He gave her a wink before walking over. He had never been so happy for Kitty's need to meddle in things that weren't her business.

After walking over several people who had taken their positions in her floor, he finally made it to stand in front of Rogue. Remy decided to ignore the scowl on Pulse's face, that just meant he was doing his job.

Rogue's face lit up and he wondered if it was because of him or because she knew that now that he was hear that Pulse would leave her alone. He hoped it was the former.

"Remy." Her smile reached all the way up to her eyes. "Ah didn' know you were gonna join us tonight. Do ya need a place ta sit?" She asked scooting over.

"If it wouldn' be too terrible ta share wit' me."

Her smile grew. "Course not."

It was a snug fit and to sit comfortably he hd to throw one of his arms behind the back of the chair. The temptation to use that arm to bring her in closer to him was maddening but he managed.

He had been very careful to only be friendly toward's Rogue. Remy couldn't count how many times he had bit his tongue so that nothing that wasn't platonic would slip out. And the longer he thought about it the more he could picture himself with Rogue and a little boy.

But that type of thinking was dangerous. It had been proven over and over again that he wasn't meant to settle down. The more he grew to know Rogue the more he hated himself for falling in love with her.

Maybe he needed a break. Some time away from her where he could get his head on straight again. He did miss his family and could always go down there for a while.

Rogue wiggled next to him and he forgot who his family was. All thought in fact flew from his brain when she was pressed so tightly against him. He hadn't been this close to her since she had that episode two weeks prior.

Images of Rogue in those dainty underthings filled his mind. Even with her stomach swollen like it was she was still so sexy and dominated his thoughts. In fact, even her belly was starting to grow on him as it grew on her. He had never, ever, thought of pregnant women before until ROgue came along.

Sometimes he would even wonder what it would be like if that was his child she was carrying. Stormy had said that the father was some sort of high-powered energy producer. He of course could produce energy, lots of energy. But Ororo had said that Stryker's Files had fingered another as the man lucky enough to be able to touch Rogue.

Movement from the warm body next to him caused Remy to look down. Rogue had shrunk down in her seat, her eyes glued to the screen. Looking over he realised it was some awful horror movie that he had seen being advertised on TV a couple of weeks ago.

The current character was slowly walking down a dark hall in some abandoned house. Rogue leaned into him as the music raised in volume signaling that something bad was coming. Turning his attention back to her he couldn't stop the smirk from forming on his face as he watched her gloved hands lift to cover her eyes. They didn't stay covered for long though as she spread her finger to peek through at the movie.

A quick glance around told him why this movie had been picked. All the girls had cuddled up to the guys, Pulse being the one exception who was glaring at the TV screen as though it had wronged him. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Kitty watching him with a smile.

He'd been set up.

Remy would have to make a point to go out with Logan more often after this to dissuade her and her partner in crime from trying their hand at matchmaking again. But for now he would enjoy the way Rogue's body pressed against his. Even with her swollen stomach she had managed to scrunch up in the chair with her knees to her chest as though something might be hiding under it to make grabs at her ankles.

He was enjoying this more than he should.

Three more bad horror movies later and the crowd had dwindled until only Remy and Rogue remained. He had moved to the couch while she searched through the stack of DVDs under the TV. She had said she needed something to happy to offset the scary or else she'd never get to sleep.

Remy couldn't bring himself to leave even though Pulse had left hours ago during the first movie. He just loved being around her too much, and the more he was around her the more he craved to be near her when they were apart. It was a sick little obsession of his almost like an addiction to her.

Rogue had found her movie and was sliding it in to the DVD player. Being the opportunist he was, he decided to admire her round rear and her thin waist. You really couldn't tell she was pregnant from the back at all. Mercy would kill her if she ever saw her as she had been as big as a hot air balloon.

Turning back around she took a seat at the opposite end of the couch. Now that it was just the two of them she didn't have to sit right next to him. Sure he liked the privacy of only her company, but it also meant the he now had no reason to touch her.

As it turned out Rogue had picked out some sort of action movie. When he asked her about it she said all the other movies were romantic comedies and she just wasn't in the right mood for that crap. Her words, not his.

Before he knew it he had drifted off to sleep.

XxX

Ororo was furious. After all of his promises and insisting that he wasn't interested she found him like this on the couch with her. Crossing her arms over her chest she glared at Remy LeBeau's sleeping face. How dare he look so content while leading Rogue on the way he was.

She was a natural early riser and had been on her way to the kitchen when she heard the TV on in the rec room. She imagined she would find a few of the younger generation passed out on the couches and in the floor.

What she found, however, was Remy slouched down, leaning against the high arm rest with his legs sprawled out on the couch. What was worse was that Rogue had cuddled up between his legs, her head resting on his stomach and hugging him closer with one of his arms wrapped around her shoulders.

It was lucky neither had touched the other during their sleep.

Reaching out, Ororo jabbed Remy with her finger to wake him. His head shot up and looked around wildly before locking in on her. Rogue didn't move at all.

"Stormy." He greeted, his voice gruff with sleep.

"What do you think you're doing?" She demanded in a harsh whisper.

It was then that he noticed Rogue curled between his legs. Ororo did not miss the slight twitch his lips made upward. When he looked back up to her, the corners of his mouth dipped into a frown at being caught.

"Ah swear when Ah fell asleep, she was on the other side o' the couch." His voice was low enough where he didn't need to whisper.

Rogue stirred, burying her face deeper in to Remy.

This was not the place for this discussion. "The children will be up and about soon. I want you to wake her up and then meet me in my classroom."

She spun on her heels and stormed out of the room. As much as she loved Remy like a brother, Rogue was in a fragile place in her life and she would not let Remy hurt her.

A/N

Loved all the reviews last time guys. Still hoping for more pregnancy stories to use. Show some love and leave me a review!


	11. Chapter 11

It had been two weeks since she had woken up in Remy's lap and she had spent every waking second avoiding him like the plague. It had been an accident that they had both fallen asleep, it was absolutely mortifying that she had curled up to him in her sleep.

She had crossed a line in doing that because he had also been actively avoiding her at every turn. It was completely awkward to be in the same room with each other and others had started to notice.

Kitty and Jubilee were convinced that something big had happened between them. Jubilee liked the idea of Remy confessing their love for each other. Kitty prefered to think that Remy had kissed her. She couldn't bear to tell them they had fallen asleep on the couch together, who knows what outlandish tales they would spin then.

Instead she kept tight lipped and avoided him.

Except today that is.

Xavier had officially hired her as his secretary a couple of weeks back after she had first started filing for him. As such, she got her very own office right next to his that lead into his office. Well, one half of the room was her office, the other half was a waiting area for those who needed to speak with the Professor.

And right now Remy LeBeau was sitting on the sofa shuffling a deck of cards. The slapping sounds he made with the cards didn't bother her, it was like white nose almost. What bothered her was the tense silence that filled the room. It made it absolutely impossible to get any work done if her mind kept drifting over to Remy and how comfortable he had been. She hadn't slept that well in a long time.

A sudden pressure in her stomach shook her from her thoughts. It had come and gone so quickly that she had no idea what it was. She waited for the pressure to appear again and when it didn't she went back to her daydreams of Remy.

Work! She went back to work!

She had been addressing envelopes for prospective students that Xavier had picked up while using Cerebro. They usually never got a response as they were sent directly to the mutant who was detected to protect their privacy. Though usually they would get a handful of new students every year.

They was a flutter of pressure again in her belly that caused her to stop an loook down. What the hell was that? She waited a moment longer for the strange sensation to return before getting back to work.

"Ugh!" She glared back down to her belly as the sensation was back.

"Somethin' wrong, chere?"

She looked up to see Remy was watching her curiously from across the room. She had forgotten he was there.

"Nothin'." She said quickly and averted her eyes back to her desk.

The flutterings hadn't stopped though. She wiggled in her seat uncomfortably in an attempt to stop whatever it was.

"Chere?"

Rogue looked up again to see that Remy was still watching her. He stood up and walked over, stopping in front of her desk.

My, he was pretty.

"Wha's a matter?"

She chewed on the inside of her cheek for a moment as she considered telling him that everything was fine. And then it happened again.

"There's this weird - " She paused trying to tink of how to describe it. "Thing." Yeah that was real descriptive.

Remy raised an eyebrow and cocked his head to the side, amused. "Thing?"

She heaved a sigh and pushed away from her desk to show him what she was talking about. Pointing to a section of her stomach as the fluttering started up again. "Theres like this weird flutteri' thing happenin' right here." She explained. "An' its drivin' me crazy."

Remy seemed to realize what was happening and smiled before walking around her desk and squatting next to her. He lifted his hand up and placed it over the sensation. His smile grew when it started up again.

"Tha's your lil' boy kickin' around in there, chere." His hand hadn't moved from her stomach.

A small, "Oh." was all she managed and put her hand next to his on her stomach.

Eyes still focused on Remy's, she smiled as her baby kicked out at her hand. It was one thing to see him floating around on an ultrasound, it was an entirely different thing to feel him moving around inside of you.

"Hey, Rogue, do you want to go out with us for - " Kitty had walked right through the wall and into her office tugging Jubilee behind her only to stop short.

Both their eyes went from Rogue, who was still seated in her desk chair, to Remy, who was still squatting in front of her, and then finally to their hands on her stomach. She could practically hear the innuendos forming in their head. She needed to divert their attention quickly before they had a chance to act on what they thought was going on.

"The baby's kickin'!" She blurted out.

Faster then Pietro Maximoff on speed, they were around her desk and pushing Remy out of the way so they could feel the baby kicking. They squealed in delight as their hands roamed her stomach.

She looked up to see some sort of emotion she couldn't place on Remy's face. Sure she had distracted Kitty and Jubilee, but she missed the warmth he ignited when ever he touched her.

The door to the Professor's office opened and Xavier rolled out. He sent a smile to Rogue before saying something to Remy, both retreated back into his office.

Rogue didn't know it at the time, but now that the baby had started kicking, everyone wanted to get a feel. Despite what most thought, she didn't actually mind being touched. She was perfectly capable of dressing herself so others were safe and everyone knew of her mutation anyway so there was no big danger. It did bother her however when Pulse tried to get in on tummy rubbing action.

The first time he did it she had wrenched away from him in the crowd of people. Rogue only saw the dark scowl on his face for a moment before the crowd surged and he was out of her sight.

The second time he had tried he had succeeded. She had been up late to grab a glass of water when he cornered her in the kitchen. Pressing her into the wall he had turned her powers off smashed his lips to hers. One hand, he used to hold her in place, the other hand roamed her body freely.

She clawed and kicked out at him like a wild cat until she had managed to push him back. Without looking back she ran out of the kitchen and up the stairs. She heard several doors slam open at once, but what really had her worried was the pounding of feet behind her.

He didn't know it, but his control on her mutation had slipped for just a second. She knew what his thoughts had been and it made her want to retch.

The angry form of Wolverine rounded the corner in the dark, his claws out. He took one look at her and rushed past her. She didn't slow down and rounded the corner, colliding into something tall and hard.

Looking up she saw the glowing red iris' of Remy. Her hands had moved to his chest on instinct to push him away but moved to circle his waist while she buried her head into his chest.

His arms hugged her to him a moment before he started moving her further into the hall. She could hear the furious snarling of Logan as he fought with Pulse. She could only assume that Remy was trying to get her away from it.

"Rogue." The voice of Jean appeared beside her and she took a moment to look over. "Come let's get you in your room." She said holding her arms out for her.

Rogue was slightly reluctant to leave Remy but when Scott told him to follow him he gave her a gentle push towards Jean. She allowed Jean to lead her back to her room and closed the door behind them.

They sat down together on the bed with her arms still wrapped around her. She hadn't cried even though she had been scared out of her mind.

"Its alright now Rogue." Jean soothed, rubbing her back. "You won't ever have to see him again."

Rogue nodded, closing her eyes. She immediately regretted it as the one thought she had been able to gather from Pulse floated to the surface.

"He used ta work for Stryker." She said. "He would find mutants and then pass it along ta Stryker. Now he works for Hydra and he promised them he would bring me an' the baby to them."

She could feel Jean go stiff when she told her. "I promise, we won't let anything happen to you or your child."

Rogue believed her. She knew the X-Men stood for good and all things righteous. But more than that, on some subconscious level, she knew Remy wouldn't let anything happen to her or the baby.

XxX

Jean glared coldly down at the unconscious form of Pulse. Never before had she wished such harm come to someone. It wasn't in her nature to feel such things. But this man had threatened her friends and her family and she wished him out of her sight.

Everyone in the room was projecting similar thoughts, some more aggressively then others. Logan had already picked out the perfect plot in a remote part of the Canadian Rockies. Scott was deciding on the best government agency to hand him off to and leaning toward SHIELD. Piotr was thinking of stranding him in the Russian Tundra while Bobby, Kitty and Jubilee were wondering if they could stick him in the Danger Room and override the no kill protocol. Ororo was thoroughly ashamed of herself for considering to desert him with a cannibalistic tribe she knew of in Africa.

She couldn't hear Remy's thoughts on what he wanted to do with Pulse. His power allowed him complete immunity from mental attacks or probing in the form of a static shield. Not even the Professor could get into his head. Though she could hear the angry, red buzzing from the static sheild just fine.

The Professor had probed Pulse's mind after Scott and Remy had managed to pull Logan off of him. As far as Pulse knew, Hyrda didn't know of their location and had only been interested in Rogue. Though they did want Pulse to hack into the Cerebro Database of mutants and bring it back to them.

"As of now we will be handing him over to SHIELD." Xavier said getting no arguments though everyone was thinking he deserved more. "Director Fury has already dispatched a team to collect him and should be here within the hour. Now I think everyone should head to bed."

Jean, Scott and Logan decided to stay with him while Ororo left to make them all a cup of tea. The rest went to bed with Piotr, Bobby, Kitty and Jubilee diverging up to the third floor where the graduates dorms were. Remy had a room with the teachers and would be near Rogue should she need someone. That was the only reason Jean wasn't going up there herself.

She felt only a little sham when she thought of this as another opportunity for the two of them to connect. Deep down she knew that the child Rogue was carrying came from Remy even though Xavier had reminded her over and over that they had no proof that pointed to Remy. She just knew it in her heart and couldn't help but try to nudge them in the right direction.

Remy had actually shown an interest in Rogue before news of the baby had gotten out. Some might think him shallow for backing off but Jean thought it mature. He was the type of man who wouldn't intrude in on a family like that. At the time everyone had thought Pulse to be the father, though she had her suspicions about the paternity even then. He had discarded his own interests so that Rogue and Pulse could have their family without him getting in the way.

But even after it was proven that Pulse was not the father, Remy still had kept a platonic distance from Rogue. And there was no use getting Rogue to make the first move as she was more stubborn than a mule on the subject of dating. She had admitted to Jean that she was iffy on the whole thing before because of her powers, and now that combined with a baby just wasn't worth it.

Jean was half tempted to gather blood samples from the two of them by force so that she could prove that Remy was compatible to father a child with Rogue. She of course wouldn't do it no matter how much she thought about it. Besides none of the plans she had come up with didn't pan out smoothly in the least.

For now she would just have to hope her gentle prodding would be enough to get them started in the right direction.

XxX

Remy stopped before he got to Rogue's open door, his own being just a few doors further down the hall. He had been trying so hard to avoid her since Ororo had found them on the couch together and given him a lecture.

He knew he was in trouble three weeks ago when her baby had first kicked. The look in her eye of absolute amazement had drawn him in like a fly to honey. If Jubilee and Kitty hadn't barged in and pushed him out of the way he was certain he would have kissed her and dropped to floor unconscious with a smile on his face.

The more he was around her to listen to her sharp wit and laughter, the more he could picture himself with her in the long run. He wanted her, all of her and everything that came with her. He wanted the kid and her dry humor and sarcastic remarks. He wanted the white picket fence and maybe another kid in a few years.

But he wasn't what she needed. Since the father of her child was lost in the wind, she needed someone who could step up and provide her stability. He was most certainly not stable when it came to relationships, hell, he didn't even do relationships.

With a sigh at his own weakness, he moved forward to stand in the doorway. Rogue was sitting on her bed cross-legged with a brightly colored book in her hands. She looked up when she heard him.

"Ya, alright chere?" He asked.

She offered him a small smile. " Yeah, its nothin' new."

A frown formed on his lips. She shouldn't have to deal with it all. He walked into the room and took a seat at her desk chair. Any closer and he might do something he would regret. "This happen often?"

She looked back down to the colorful book in her hands and scanned the pages. "My powers manifested when Ah was thirteen." She told him not looking p from her book. "After Ah ran away, people started to approach me, wantin' me ta join their groups."

"Like who, chere?"

He finally caught sight of the book cover, _1001 Baby Names_. Apparently she wouldn't be naming her kid after any of the boys here.

She looked up at him. "Well, there was Magento an' his boys, SHEILD and a few others. It seemed like everyone wanted a piece of me so Ah just stayed on the move. Lookin' back, Ah suppose that's why it was so easy for Creed ta take me."

He nodded. With a mutation like hers it was no wonder everyone was after her to join their said. "So after the babe, ya plannin' on stayin'?"

What the hell was he going to do if she wasn't around here any more? Now that she was in his life, even it was only a little part, he couldn't imagine his life without her. What if someone else tried to get her and the baby? If she was gone he couldn't protect her.

The X-Men, the X-men couldn't protect her if she was gone.

"Ah suppose Ah'll stick around." She said and looked back down to her book. "There's a really good chance the baby will be a mutant."

That's just what he wanted to hear even if it would be better if she could settle down somewhere nice and away from all this.

"Think ya might suit up with the rest of us?" He smirked and pictured her in those tight leather body suits. That was just a wet dream waiting to happen.

She blushed and looked up at him under those long lashes of hers. "Ah have been itchin' ta try out the Danger Room." She admitted a bit sheepishly.

He chuckled. "Maybe when Jean clear's ya, Ah'll take ya in there."

He would not mind rolling around on the floor with her at all. Hell he wanted to roll around with her on the bed right now. Her already tinted cheeks turned darker.

Shit. He was flirting again. He really was trying not to with her, but it was just so damn hard. He had never wanted anyone more then he wanted her.

He nodded to the book in her hands. "Got any names picked out yet, chere?"

Her blush disappeared and was replaced by a frustrated pout. "Ah'm in the L's an' haven't found anything Ah like yet." She said.

Remy stood up from the chair and walked over to flop down beside her. He deftly snatched the book from her and started flipping through it. "Ah assume you've already given Remy a lot o' thought."

Rogue giggled beside him and leaned over to try to get the book back. "About as much thought as Ah gave ta Robert an' Scott." She said sarcastically and made another snatch for the book only for him to continue to dangle it just out fo her reach.

Remy rolled away from her and held the book out in front of him, flipping a few pages to the O's.

"Give it back ya swamp rat." She giggled as he rolled onto his back and held it out above her head. Kneeling over him she put one gloved hand on his chest and reached out with the other.

He doubt she realized what a fabulous view of her breasts she was giving him. She was braless and each snatch she made at the book caused them to bounce around in front of his face in her tight shirt.

Time to wrap this up before she noticed his erection.

Letting her grab the book he sat up as she shuffled up to the head of her bed leaving him at the foot. He laughed at the look she gave him and stood up, artfully tilting his body so she couldn't see him.

"You let me know if ya need any help, chere." He said flashing her a smile that was all teeth.

Walking over to the door he turned and saw that she was frowning. "Night, chere."

She grinned at him. "Night, Remy."

He could have kicked himself. Stormy was going to kill him if she found out he had been flirting with Rogue again. He had been expressly forbidden from starting a relationship with her during this vulnerable time. Tomorrow he would be sure to show her he was nothing more than a friend.

A/N

Hope y'all enjoyed, your reviews are spurring me on. So show some love and leave more!


	12. Chapter 12

_Remy glared at the pretty doctor as she prepared her instruments on a tray beside her. He had been strapped to a table with a power inhibitor collar snapped around his neck._

_He refocused his glare when Stryker walked in smiling like an ass. "Mutant 568-E, how are you this morning?" He didn't care._

_"Jus' dandy." Remy spat. "Wha's wit' the new number, Ah thought Ah was Mutant 392-D?" he mocked._

_"It seems your power has grown substantially since I last had you on my table. You are no longer classified with the D mutants." He explained. "You are the first E classed mutant I've gotten the chance to study."_

_He said it like it was supposed to be a compliment. Remy snorted in contempt. "Lucky me."_

_"I believe I'm the lucky one in this case, I'd only started looking for a mutant of your caliber when Victor brought you back to me." He said._

_Remy glared in response._

_The pretty little doctor started to remove his pants and he jerked and growled at her. "What the hell do ya think your doin'!" He snarled._

_She backed off of him and glanced to Stryker. "I am in need of your DNA Mutant 568-E." He said simply. "I thought you'd enjoy having her perform the procedure for you."_

_His smile was sinister and he chuckled darkly as he spun on his heel and left him with the little whore in a lab coat so she could jack him off._

Remy's eyes snapped open only to close once more in the bright sun of the morning. If it wasn't the old Stryker induced nightmares it was the new ones. It had taken four years after he had escaped for them to stop the first time. He wondered if all the other suffered horrific nightmares as a result of that mad man's interest in them.

Remy sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. He needed a beer, and probably a few shots of whiskey. Making a note to talk to Logan about going out later he stood up and trudged over to his attached bathroom.

Half an hour later he was presentable and walked out his door. He had every intention of not even looking at Rogue's door as he passed on his way down to breakfast. But that all went to hell when he heard her call through the door.

"Hello?" She called and he could hear an edge fo panic in her voice. "Can somebody help me!"

There went his best laid plans.

He opened her door and looked around. "Rogue?"

"Up here!"

Tilting his head up he saw a panicked looking Rogue bracing herself against the ceiling. He didn't even know where to begin with this. Jean had warned them all that when a mutant was pregnant their powers acted up. Apparently when Rogue absorbed someone their memories stayed around. It was discovered after her first episode that their powers lingered as well.

His lips twitched until he was smirking. "Wha' ya doin' up there, chere?"

"Ah don' know." Her face was contorted and it looked like she might cry. "Ah jus' want down."

He tried not to laugh, Mercy had had the same mood swings. Though she didn't float.

He reached up and grabbed her outstretched arms. "Ah gotcha." He soothed in case she did burst into tears.

The new problem was that now her feet were floating up above her head. He tried really hard not to let Rogue see how funny he thought this whole situation was and was glad when she moved her arms to grab on to his shoulders. Though that led him to move his hands to her waist and then hips so he could pull her down.

His his hands still firmly on her hips and her feet on the ground she smiled up at him. "Thanks, Remy."

"Anytime, chere." He wanted her so bad right now that it was killing him not to lean in and kiss her. He dreamt about what it would be like to touch that soft skin.

In a great show of restraint he released her hips. She started to float back up to the ceiling again immediately. Remy grabbed her hips again and pulled her back down.

"How am Ah supposed ta work if Ah can't keep my feet on the floor?" She asked desperately.

"We'll think o' somethin' chere." He promised. "Let's get ya down ta the kitchen fo' some breakfast first." He said.

Remy scooped her up bridal style, he held her tightly against his chest while she looped her arms around his neck just in case. It was almost like the fates were taunting him with a woman he so obviously didn't deserve.

He could only imagine the rumors this was going to start. If Kitty and Jubilee weren't bad enough, Ororo was going to zap him with lightning when she heard all the girls in her class talking about it.

They made it to the kitchen without running in to any students or staff. But that's where their luck ended as everyone who wasn't a student was in the kitchen eating breakfast. All movement stopped to stare at them when they entered. Remy decided to just push through the awkwardness and walked over to the breakfast table to deposit her in a seat next to Piotr.

She gripped the seat of the chair and glued herself to it. Remy turned and walked to the fridge, ignoring the angry looks from Logan and Ororo.

"Ohmigod! Are you flying?" He turned around to see Rogue floating up to the ceiling at a lazy pace, still seated in her chair.

"Ah don' know how ta stop it." She cried out.

Piotr reached one arm up from his seated position and grabbed a hold of a leg of the chair, pulling her back down to the floor. He kept one hand on the chair before continuing to eat his cereal like nothing was wrong.

He pulled out a cartoon of eggs and the ingredients to make the omelet he had promised her on the way down. Life at Xavier's was never boring.

XxX

Jean smiled at Rogue who looked absolutely miserable. She didn't blame her, not only did she have to deal with her own powers and being pregnant, now she had to live with everyone else's powers too. It was a lot to handle but she was doing a great job of it.

After the powers of flight had worn off around noon, Jean had insisted on doing a check up just to make sure she and the baby were fine. Of course everything was fine, but that didn't stop them from firing up the 3D Ultrasound to get a peek at the baby.

The equipment was worth thousands of dollars so it was only right to use it more than once a month. It's not like they used it for anything else anyway.

The baby was of course fine, even a little chubby. "So have you picked a name out yet?"

Rogue shook her head, her eyes glued to the screen. "Not yet, can't seem ta find anythin' Ah like." She said.

"You'll know it when you hear it." Jean assured her and moved the probe around to get a look at the baby's face.

Jean gasped at the sight. The baby's eyes were open and black, the whole eyeball was black. (1). The child had black eyeballs, just like his father. If this didn't prove that Remy was the father before birth then she didn't know what would.

She glanced over to Rogue who was staring at the screen in shock. "Well." She said slowly. "Ah guess, he'll be a mutant."

Jean opened her mind to listen to the surface thoughts floating around in Rogue's mind, but she only heard wonderings on what the child's power would be.

She moved the mouse around and made a snapshot of the baby with his eyes open. She would show the Professor, surly this was reason enough to test the compatibility of Rogue and Gambit.

"Wow, look at all that hair." Rogue commented.

The baby did indeed have a thin layer of hair across the top of his head. It would only grow thicker in the coming months before his birth, by the time he was born they might be able to put his hair into a ponytail. Just like his father.

They cooed over the baby for another minute before turning the machine off. Jean printed out a few pictures for Rogue and one for herself before sending Rogue back upstairs.

She went back to her desk to put Rogue's folder away before stuffing the picture in her pocket and walking upstairs herself to see the Professor.

XxX

"That's it for today, don't forget to study for the test on Thursday." Ororo said, dismissing her last class of the day.

She walked over to her blackboard to erase the notes and start on notes for her class in the morning. Normally, Ororo wasn't one to pry or listen in on her students, but when she heard Remy's name she couldn't help it.

Glancing over her shoulder she saw it was Amara and Tabitha talking.

"Think about it." Amara insisted. "They were both there about the same time she got pregnant."

"That doesn't mean Remy 'Scream-My-Name' LeBeau is the dad to Rogue's kid." Tabitha said.

"They're always hanging out together."

"Yeah, and he hangs out with Ms. Monroe and Ms. Grey too but they aren't having his children."

Another glance showed that they were gathering their books as the slowly filed out of the class room.

"I over heard Ms. Grey talking to the Professor about it when Pulse first got her. She said the mutant created energy and was strong enough that Rogue's mutation doesn't affect him and he was there at the base with her when it happened. All signs point to him." Amara said.

Ororo paused in her writing on the blackboard. That couldn't possibly be true. She lowered her hand with the chalk still in it and turned to look at the two girls.

"Well, if anyone's good enough to get a girl pregnant without even touching her its Gambit." Tabitha said as she exited the classroom with a giggling Amara.

She had never even once thought that Gambit might be the father of that child. Though when she did think about everything that they knew about the father, it did point directly to Remy. How had she not seen it before?

Ororo finished writing the notes on the board before hurrying to leave. She had decided not to ask Remy about his second stay with Stryker because he had wanted it that way. But this wasn't just about him any more. She needed to know if Rogue was carrying his child.

She had no idea to even know where to start looking for him. Well until five identical blond girls walked around the corner.

"Girls!" Ororo called and picked up her pace.

They stopped and turned around to uniformly that it was slightly creepy. "Yes, Ms. Monroe?"

The one closest to her asked.

"I was wondering if you could tell me where Gambit might be?"

They all giggled. "He's in the kitchen." They said together.

"Thank you."

She left the Cockoo's and made her way to the kitchen.

Remy was sitting at the counter looking out the window. He turned when he heard her walk in. "Stormy." Oh, how she hated that.

"It is Storm, as you should know." She corrected.

"Sure, sure." He said with an easy smirk.

Deciding to cut right to the heart of it, she forewent pleasantries. "Tell me, Remy, what was the number Stryker gave you?"

He frowned at her, his red eyes darkening. "Mutant 392-D." He answered. "Why?"

She ignored the question. "Did you, perhaps have another number from your second visit?"

His frown turned into a scowl. "Yeah, Mutant 568-E. Ya gonna tell me wha's wit' all the questions?"

"And, did you erase both of your files before downloading them for us?"

"O' course." He looked angry at being kept out of the loop. She promised herself to make it up to him. "No one needs ta know 'bout me, but me."

"I promise I will tell you later, friend." She said and left, pretending not to hear him call her a 'Crazy femme'.

Trying very hard not to run she quickly made it to Xavier's office and knocked politely, thankful that Rogue wasn't at her desk.

_'Please, Ororo, come in.'_

She pushed the door open to see Xavier behind his desk with Jean standing in front of it, her arms crossed over her chest. Ororo came to stand beside Jean and just like with Remy, cut right to the quick.

"I believe that Remy may be the father of Rogue's child." She announced. "I have just spoken with him and he told me that during his second stay with Stryker he was given a new number, Mutant 568-E."

"We know." Jean said and pushed a picture into her hands.

She took the picture and looked down. It was a 3D Ultrasound picture of a baby, presumably Rogue's child. The child's eyes were open and were completely dark.

XxX

"You ready, Gumbo?" Logan asked walking in through the door that lead out to the garage.

"Oui, mon ami." He said and stood up. A night of drinking with Logan would definitely clear his head. It also wouldn't hurt to get away before Stormy started questioning him about other uncomfortable times in his life, perhaps she would want to hear about his short engagement to Belladonna.

What ever got her in a mood, he hoped it was gone by the time they got back.

A/N

1 - If you go to google images and type in 33 weeks 3D ultrasound, the first picture is a baby peeking its eye open.

Hope you all enjoyed. I think you all know what's coming next. What do y'all think of this new filter FF has, because personally its pissing me off.


	13. Chapter 13

Remy returned to the mansion alone. For the first time since he had met Logan, he had come back alone while Logan had found some woman to mess around with. It wasn't for a lack of trying though, well, at least the women at the bar tried, he hadn't been particularly interested in any of them.

Every time one would come up to him, he would compare her to Rogue, they all fell short. it was around one thirty when he realized he wouldn't be following someone home that night. So he had left Logan with some pretty blond and drove home alone.

When he got there he had every intention of taking a shower and going to bed. But walking through the door he realized that all his intentions meant nothing when Rogue was in his life. There she was sitting at the counter with a hand-caught-in-the-cookie-jar look on her face. What ever she was eating was not cookies.

"Rogue." He greeted with a raised eyebrow. "Wha' are you doin' up this late?"

She glanced guiltily down to the jar that had brown packing paper glued to it. It smelled like pickles but he just couldn't imagine her eating pickles straight from the jar.

"Midnight cravin'." She said and snatched the lid up to screw it back on. "Are you just gettin' in?"

For some reason that he didn't want to think about, he felt guilty. "Oui, me an' Logan went ta the bar in town."

She smiled and pulled the jar into her lap and out of sight. "Sounds fun." What was she trying to hide in that jar?

"Chere." He said and she perked up. "Whatcha got in there?"

Her cheeks colored but she kept eye contact. For a moment it seemed like she wasn't going to answer before she sighed and looked down. Rogue put the jar back on the counter top and opened it once more. "Don't judge me."

She pulled out a red twizzler dripping in green tinted pickle juice.

He must have made a face because she snapped at him. "They're delicious an' Ah can't help that its all Ah want ta eat in the middle of the night." She glared out at him defiantly, daring him to laugh and he knew he shouldn't.

He laughed anyway and she huffed, taking a vicious bite out of her pickle juice marinated twizzler.

He walked over to her and pulled the jar away from her, peeking in. It smelled so awful that he put the lid back on. "You keep eatin' this, chere, an' that baby is gonna have chest hair."

She giggled and took another bite. "He already has hair on his head." She said and he went to stuff the pickle twizzlers back in the fridge. "Jean did a 3D Ultrasound for me today an' we got to see his hair."

He turned back around and closed the door just in time to see her get excited. "Oh, an' he's gonna be a mutant!"

He lifted an eyebrow and walked forward to stand in front of her while she sat sideways in the chair. "An' how can ya tell that from an ultrasound?"

She was wearing a low-cut, long-sleeved knit shirt that gave him a glorious view of her cleavage. He wanted so bad to just bury his face in it that he had to pinch his leg to remind him not to. He probably shouldn't have drunk that last beer.

"His eyes!" She said excitedly. "Remind me tomorrow an' Ah'll show ya the ultrasound photo."

Hopping off the stool she bid him a goodnight and left him standing in the kitchen. He wanted to see the ultrasound of the baby, but that meant seeking her out tomorrow and that went against the plan. Who was he kidding the plan was a failure anyway, might as well go down swinging.

XxX

When Rogue passed the cafeteria the next afternoon, it was to hear Jubilee's big mouth. "Alright, people, we've got a month and a half left before the baby's here. Come place your bet's for length, weight, due date and hours of labor."

Rogue was tempted to go back and snatch Jubilee's little yellow note-book of bets out of her hands and set it on fire. Instead she counted to ten and continued on down the hallway.

XxX

Rogue sat on one of the exam tables in the main part of the medical bay, kicking her feet back and forth. Off to the side, Jean and the Professor were having a hushed conversation that she wasn't supposed to hear.

She listened in any way not that it helped, most of their conversation was telepathic in nature.

Tired of being kept out of the loop she spoke up. "Are y'all gonna tell me why Ah'm down here?" She asked.

Both telepaths shared a look with each other and she was pretty sure they were communicating with each other again. Rogue narrowed her eyes and was about to snap when Jean looked over to her.

"We think we know who the father of your child is." Not really what she expected, but she wasn't surprised. She had known Jean and Xavier were using Cerebro to scour the world for a mutant that fit the description in Stryker's notes.

Rogue paused and searched their faces for answers. When she had determined that her baby daddy's name wasn't written on their forehead's she spoke. "This isn't gonna be another Pulse, is it?"

"No," Jean said. "We've suspected it might be this mutant for awhile."

Awhile? How long had they been thinking this over and why hadn't they told her? Apparently she was projecting because Xavier answered her. "The information we had, was contradicting. We didn't want to reveal it in case our theory turned out to be false."

Rogue opened her mouth to argue that they should have at least told her anyway when the doors opened and Storm walked in, dragging Remy behind her. He looked extremely unhappy to be here.

"I told you, we think Stryker may have done something and Jean needs to run some tests to make sure." She snapped back at him. He didn't look convinced and glowered at her.

Sometimes she just felt so stupid she could spit. Rogue often forgot that Remy had been with Stryker the same time she had. She also forgot that he was a powerful mutant with the ability to charge the potential energy in any given object into kinetic energy, he mutation had evolved to the point where he could actually create the energy now.

One glance at Jean and the Professor confirmed it.

It could always be worse, she decided, it could be Pulse.

Things had been so weird around them for months now, how would he take it. She didn't think he'd desert her, but she didn't think he'd propose either. Not that she'd want a proposal, that would make her and the baby an obligation.

Rogue closed her eyes to shale herself from such thoughts. She needed to go in to this with a clear mind otherwise it would get weird and make everything much harder then it needed to be.

Remy looked up at her and immediately stopped struggling. He smiled and moved past Storm into the room, ignoring her scowl. "They got you down here too, chere?"

She couldn't seem to form words and nodded vacantly.

"If, you'll take a seat, I can draw some blood." Jean said and busied herself with latex gloves and needles.

Remy sent a sour look to the needles but did as instructed and sat on the exam table next to hers.

Jean moved to her first and Rogue rolled up her sleeve. She hated having her blood drawn but knew it was crucial to confirming this. Once she had filled up two tubes of blood she marked them and moved on to Remy.

"Y'all gonna tell me what ya think it is Stryker did now." Remy drawled out as Jean walked away with their blood.

Rogue couldn't seem to get her brain or mouth to work, so she just gazed at him.

"All in good time." The Professor said.

For a moment she wondered why no one was telling him. But then she realized that it wasn't confirmed and that's why they needed to give up the blood to make sure. There was no sense in scaring him off with misplaced theories.

Remy snorted and rolled his eyes. She didn't blame him for being impatient, she had been the same way only minutes before. Now she didn't know if she wanted Jean to hurry up or never come back out of the lab again.

He took out a deck of cards and started shuffling them, an irritated look on his face when Ororo and Xavier moved away to talk quietly. He had once told her that he was a naturally fidgety person due to the copious amounts of energy he produced.

He caught her staring at him and sent her a devilish wink. At least she knew for certain now that the baby would be good-looking when he grew up.

"Wha's a matter, chere?" He asked. "Ya been awful quiet since Ah got her."

"Nothin'." She forced herself to say, it came out quieter than she usually spoke.

He cocked his head to the side but didn't respond. He went back to his shuffling and sent another glare over to Storm and the Professor who were still talking in hushed tones.

Rogue decided she couldn't look at him any longer and turned her attention to the wall on her other side. It was so space aged in here, maybe Rogue should get some home furnishing magazines and leave them down here conveniently. Jean was smart and would be sure to get the hint.

Several minutes turned into an hour and Remy had started complaining that he had things to do. Xavier pacified him while Ororo would snap at him to just be patient which would make him grumble and Rogue smirk.

Eventually Jean did come out looking happy. "Congratulations Remy."

Remy jumped off the exam table and smirked. "Let me guess, Ah'm cancer free?" He said and turned to Ororo. "Ah told ya all that nonsense 'bout smokin' an' long cancer was made up."

"It most certainly is not." She snapped. "I do not want to see you with another cigarette in your hand, Remy."

He only smirked back at her. "Well, if tha's all the good news, Ah think Ah'll be goin'." He said and started walking to the door.

"You're a father." Jean said looking highly amused with Remy's back to them and him frozen in mid-step.

Rogue looked down and took a deep breath. Her baby had a father and she was undeniably attracted to him.

All Rogue heard was silence, if she didn't know any better she would think she was alone in the medical bay.

"Pardon, Jeanie, Ah think Ah miss heard you." He said.

Rogue kept her head bowed, refusing to look up. If she did, she might have to see the look of rejection on his face. Sure he was friendly with her now and had flirted with her before. But he didn't help make this baby, there was no relationship of any kind there. He had no responsibility to this child.

"I said you are a father, or will be in about a month." Jean repeated for him.

Rogue took a deep breath and tried to think of other things, like how she couldn't see her feet with her belly in the way.

XxX

Remy moved his eyes from the carefully blank faces of Ororo, Charles and Jean to Rogue. He couldn't see what her face looked like as her head was down and her shoulder slumped. Was this some kind of awful joke?

"Wha'?" Was the only thing he could think to say.

"Stryker's notes said that he used sperm from Mutant 568-E to fertilize Rogue's eggs. He described the mutant as a powerful with the ability to generate energy as only a mutant of such ability would be immune to Rogue's skin." Jean explained to him.

"You just happen to be that mutant."

"Why am Ah only hearin' o' this now?" How long had they suspected this? Had Rogue known this whole time and just decided not to tell him.

"You had been given a number during your first stay with Stryker." Xavier spoke up. "We didn't know that you were this mysterious mutant until yesterday when Storm brought it to our attention."

Xavier then smirked at him. "It also didn't help identify you as the father when you went into Stryker's files and altered them."

It had seemed like a good idea at the time.

Jean shrugged off her lab coat and hung it on a coat stand just inside her office. "Perhaps we should leave to let you two talk about this." She said and lead Ororo and Charles out of the room. She placed something in his hand as she walked past him.

He watched them go, even turning around to let his eyes follow them out the door. When the automatic doors hissed shut he felt an overwhelming feeling of claustrophobia hit him. Only the emotion wasn't just coming from him, it was coming from Rogue too.

He turned back around to look at her. She had never looked so small before. He looked down at the thing Jean had passed him to see it was an ultrasound picture, A 3D ultrasound. So this is what Rogue had meant by his eyes confirming his mutant status. There would be no denying this kid when they had matching eyes.

He looked back up to Rogue in time to see a tear drop fall from her hidden face and land on her swollen stomach.

His body propelled forward by some unseen force to here until he was standing in front of her. "Chere?"

She sniffed and looked up to him. Her bright green eyes were red-rimmed and had tears streaming down from them.

"Ah'm not tha' bad, am Ah?" He asked. He could think of worse men to father her child than him.

She shook her head. "It's not you." She sniffed again and closed her eyes.

Remy paused. "Then wha's wrong, chere?"

"Ah can' see my feet!" She cried and burst into a fresh wave of tears.

Remy nearly laughed as he pulled her into a hug. He no longer had to feel guilty about thinking of her, the only question now was would she want him.

"Ah promise they're still there." He said and patted her back soothingly. She buried her head into his chest and sniffed miserably.

It took her a few moments to calm down before she pulled back. She wouldn't meet his gaze and instead looked everywhere but up at him. Having none of it, he lifted her chin with one gloved hand while the other remained around her back. Now that he knew he could, he didn't think he'd be able to stop touching her.

"Chere."

She looked ready for the worst. He didn't know how to respond to a look like that, how did anyone know? So he froze, his mind completely blank just staring into those brilliant, all-consuming eyes of hers.

She averted her eyes, leaning back away from him and he let her go. "This was all Stryker's doin' so Ah really don' expect ya ta want ta be part of this if it freaks ya out too much." She rambled and started tugging at her gloves nervously.

He reached out for her chin again and tilted her face up as he lowered to meet hers. Rogue's eyes were wide with surprise right before he pressed his lips to hers.

Any worries he might have had were completely erased as all he could think about was the beautiful creature in his arms. A sense of calming washed over him when she started to kiss back, their kiss slow as he pushed everything he was feeling into it.

All too soon they had to pull back to catch their breath. Her face flushed, she looked up to him with a mixture of excitement and uncertainty. It was time to lay it all out there and hoped she'd take him.

"Ah been wantin' you for months, chere." He said, one hand coming to rest on her waist and the other to rub her swollen stomach. "All o' you."

The excitement in her eyes increased but the uncertainty remained. "Are ya sure?" She asked. "Ah mean, its a lot o' responsibility ta take on when ya shouldn't have ta - "

He stopped her with a short chaste kiss. Did he mention how much he loved to touch her? "Tha's my son in there, same as yours. Y'all aren' a responsibility ta me." He assured her. "Only reason Ah backed off, was 'cause Ah thought ya deserved better."

She turned scarlet and nodded mutely.

"How 'bout Ah take ya out fo' dinner tonight?" He asked. He had imagined this playing out so many different ways before that he could hardly believe it was actually happening.

"Like a date?" She asked nervously.

He moved both hands to her hips. "Oui."

"You're not just takin' me out because of the baby are ya?" She asked. Its was like she was giving him every opportunity to reject her and the baby. He was just going to have to disappoint her then.

"Non, Ah wan' you an' everythin' about you." He said and leaned in for another kiss.

Her legs spread apart when he pulled her closer, pressing her body into his. But all too soon she placed her hands on his chest and pushed him away. "Jus' because we're havin' a baby doesn' mean Ah'm gonna jump in bed with you." She declared with a stern frown.

"We'll take this slow, chere." He promised and reached out to tuck a lock of white hair behind her ear.

She looked almost afraid to accept the way he so easily accepted his new role as a father. The truth was though, he had been fantasizing about being the father for weeks now. He wanted this and he wanted her. Sure he would have preferred to actually have sex with her and a relationship first, but beggars can't be choosers. And with her in his life he was most assuredly a beggar.

He took her hand in his and pulled her off the table and lead her out of the infirmary and into the hall. "I'll be by your room around seven, chere." He said and walked off to the locker rooms. He had a Danger Room session to get to, not that he'd be able to pay attention with Rogue waiting for him.

XxX

Rogue turned around to see Jubilee with her eyes wide and mouth hanging open. Before Jubilee could reboot her brain Rogue rushed over to her, well at this point in her pregnancy she waddled over to her at a quick pace.

"Don't say a word." She commanded. "Grab Kitty an' meet me in my room."

And she hurried off before her friend could think to stop her.

A/N

This chapter was fun to write, hope y'all enjoyed it!


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